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Obama's Post Office health care disaster

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
08/12/09 9:50 AM EDT

President Obama talks about his health care plan, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009, at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, N.H.

With a few hours' reflection, it's become clear that Barack Obama's reference to the U.S. Postal Service at yesterday's health care town hall was the most revealing, and damaging, thing the president has said in the entire health care debate.

Explaining why he believes a public option would not crowd out and ultimately eliminate private insurance, Obama said, "My answer is that if the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining…then I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

In one brief phrase, Obama planted the image in the minds of millions of people: Government health care = Post Office. Everyone has had the pleasant experience of waiting in line at the Post Office, and now Obama, whose intention was to dispel doubts about increasing government's role in health care, has rhetorically linked health care reform with the Post Office experience. If Republicans can't make something of that, they don't deserve to be called the opposition party.

The Heritage Foundation has done a good job telling us just how wrong-headed Obama's Post Office remark was. For example, private carriers are forbidden by law from delivering first-class mail to your home; the Postal Service loses billions of dollars each year; the Postmaster General complains that he doesn't have the "tools" to run the Postal Service like a business. But in the end, it is the image that Obama has put into the heads of millions of Americans, the one in which government health care looks like the Post Office, that could do grievous damage to the president's dream of a government health care makeover.

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Reader Comments

All comments on this page are subject to our Terms of Use and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Examiner or its staff. Comment box is limited to 250 words.

BIGGUN

Aug 12, 2009

First of all, this was an $80 billion/year business before Bush ordered changes took affect. The entire upper management team is still Bush appointees. Postmaster General, Board of Governors, Postal regulatory Commission. In spite of actions and people from people like Bush this is the ONLY FEDERAL AGENCY to be self sufficient. No regular federal appropriations since the Nixon administration (Nixon re-organized it).
Compare that to the $1 Trillion dollars the Department of Defense has spent on a still active Iraq campaign. That money would have paid for 12.5 years of operations for the USPS. That is 700,000 jobs with benefits for 12.5 years. Numbers give the real truth. The USPS isn't perfect. Not by a long shot. To take the only tax-free service from the Federal government and give it away to UPS is just obscene.

Jennifer the Cat

Aug 12, 2009

That's right, like all good socialists, blame W. What part of freedom do you hate. All of it. Here's freedom you crybaby bed wetter: private carriers are forbidden by law from delivering first-class mail to your home.

I want UPS to deliver my mail. O' Wait Nazi's like you can't stand this freedom.

BIGGUN

Aug 12, 2009

Jennifer the Cat
TheUSPS is the only federal agency since NIXON to receive ZERO TAX DOLLARS. Now that agency is being run under GOP rules. It is loosing $7 this year. NEO-NAZIS that goose step to whatever drum beat 1 year of college MORONS like Limbaugh are the ones that nearly collapsed our financial system. President Obama saved this country from a GREAT DEPRESSION. If you don't consider yourself first an AMERICAN then say that. Say that you spell GOP before USA. I will continue to support this great nation and what is best for our national interest. If ANY of my statements where false then you could have pointed that out. Republican dictated this economy when it crashed & burned & they should be held accountable, including the GOP appointees in the US postal service.

BIGGUN

Aug 12, 2009

The cost to send a letter across town is a minimum $6.90 (UPS website-ground rate). Yes, I imagine UPS would love to take the cost of delivery from 44cents to $4 or $5.

Vince

Aug 12, 2009

Obama saved us from a great depression? Are you an idiot? He hasn't done anything for the economy. The stimulus package has sent out only about 8 billion dollars. 8 billion dollars fixed the economy? You are an idiot. The economy bounces back on its own. Ignorant people like you make me sick, honestly.

Vince

Aug 12, 2009

The economy fixed by Obama? You are kidding, right?

BIGGUN

Aug 12, 2009

VINCE. They have something called "Wall Street" . You hear that noise? It's the clapping as "Wall Street" approaches 10,000. I didn't say the economy was fixed. Repairing all the damage done by Republicans may be impossible. What President Obama did is keep us out of a great depression. It's un-Americans like yourself that hurt this country. You are GOP first and maybe American next. Now that many of you are dreaming of setting up the "NEW SOUTH AFRICA" in Alaska or Texas,Sedition sounds like a good idea. Renounce your citizenship and move to Brazil. Take Rush with you.

Tim

Aug 12, 2009

Obama fixed the economy? Man, have you drank the cool-aid! But more to the point. Assume for just a minute that it was Bush that messed it all up. We going to turn everything over to the gov? How you know there won't be another "Bush" in 4/8/12 years. Then how damage can be done?

Ralph

Aug 12, 2009

Biggun---where do you get your information? must be from MoveOn.org or the Huff Post. The US Postal service receives approx $5 billion a year in government money. Its in the federal budget, if you are interested in facts. I wont be surprised if you are not, as Bush-Bashing liberals never let facts confuse a good rant.

BIGGUN

Aug 12, 2009

You elected Bush. What do you mean how will we know? If you had shown the same vigilance about government spending and abuses then you wouldn't be complaining about Bush being blamed for everything. Where where you when the GOP directed a $1 Trillion expenditure in Iraq? When Bush spent %5 Trillion dollars in 2008? Why complain now? Be an AMERICAN & hope we recover.

Jon Fraud Carry

Aug 12, 2009

Good job BIGGUN! You have done exactly as you were told. You are a proud member of the Leftwing Moonbats! Now, go drink your Kool-Aid!

Rachelfriend

Aug 12, 2009

Something doesn't ring true about BIGGUN's USPS tax/deficit assertions (from 1989): http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg716.cfm

Tim

Aug 12, 2009

The point is not to defend Bush. Move on man! They all over spend and wasted our money... I want to stop them all.... If someone thinks giving the Gov. MORE control will fix anything they have lost it. Forget Bush, not wasting time on defending last years news. Got bigger problems here and now!

BIGGUN

Aug 12, 2009

Jon Fraud Carry
It must be a trying time for you. Having to wait for next catch phrase for your MASTER, Rush. Un-Americans like your self that don't accept the most basic principles of Democracy. What is your arch-enemy Obama now? Still undefeated? Just like you represent and angry segment of the USA , Obama represents a MUCH BIGGER audience. The memory of GOP rule after 911 will be hard for your group to overome.

Aug 12, 2009

the point is there has been been bad Presidents in the past and there will be bad ones again. So why give them more control? If he messed up the Post Office sooooo bad, you want the next bad one to do that to your health care? What does the current health care debate have to do with the War? For that matter what does it have to do with Bush at all?

redondo

Aug 12, 2009

It amazes me that when I need to send something to my folks who live out in the boondocks, the closest the U.S. Post Office will come is the nearest main road. They had to invest in one of those armored mail boxes beacause of theft of mail. FedEx, UPS and DHL all manage to get those unwieldy panel trucks up a horrendous dirt road right to the front door. That's what competition brings in a free market. We need compnies rewarded for the best service, not hog tied to keep them from competing with the government. If they don't provide good service we need the freedom to move on. I THOUGHT MONOPOLIES WERE BAD?

Jan

Aug 12, 2009

Ding a ling moron -just in case you haven't taken Civics yet in High School - Bush didn't write the budget - Congress did. And they're what? Oh yeah - tax and spend flaming liberal moonbats. Enjoy Pelosi and Reid while you have them. They will be retired soon.

Aug 12, 2009

guess when logic fails you, go directly into name calling.... you win... Time for Rush show ... got to go!

Wingnut1!

Aug 12, 2009

Biggoon...your an idiot...on the one hand you say we should all be Americans on the other you ridicule others for having a different viewpoint. You are exactly what is wrong with this country. We can only get along if we agree with your viewpoint...wow perfect example of the leftwing nuts in this country.

Dave

Aug 12, 2009

Biggun is probably an astroturfer sent here by Media Matters or Moveon.org to counter the truth with liberal hogwash. The libs are running scared cause their man is a dope without his security blankets ( i.e. teleprompters).

crunchbite

Aug 12, 2009

kept us out of a great depression? the current administration did the exact same thing as the hoover administration. the end result was 15 years of depression.

you talk about these "unamericans" that is a word thrown around by fools that want to slander those with opposing views because they have no backing for an actual argument.

basic democracy huh? don't want to burst your bubble but the US is a republic.

BigBob

Aug 12, 2009

Bush, Clinton, Wilson, Taft, Millard Filmore, that matters little. The problem is CONGRESS. All spending is authorized by Congress. We keep re-electing these piles of dog excrement (both parties) who get in there and then devote their time/energy at doing what it takes to stay in there rather than what is actually best for the country.

ZurichMike

Aug 12, 2009

Blame Bush? Blame Nixon? No, even with the advantages accorded them, the USPS is not competitive no matter how much or how little money you give them. It would go belly-up as soon as first-class mail were allowed to be delivered by private carriers. ObamaCare = Post Office Health Care. Wait in line, hope you get served.

Trent

Aug 12, 2009

Hey RALPH, You moron. NO! The Post Office does NOT receive $5 Billion from the Govt. Know your facts before you mouth off!!!

David Gerard

Aug 12, 2009

I think of Obama's plan and I think of this image: http://is.gd/2dYxi

AmeriKan_Man

Aug 12, 2009

I like Obama cuz he's a gettin' me free stuff. Its about time the rich man got his come uponce. Obama's gettin me a new kar, a refi on my sub-prime,interest only, no money down, adjustable rate mortgage, and new boobies for my Ho. God Bless Obanomics.

CPTBMan

Aug 12, 2009

Hey TRENT, You moron. YES! The post office DOES receive $5 billion from the Gubmint. Know your facts before you mouth off!!!!!!!!!

Aug 12, 2009

Follow up from Jan, (08/12)
Ding a ling moron -just in case you haven't taken Civics yet in High School - Bush didn't write the budget - Congress did. And they're what? Oh yeah - tax and spend flaming liberal moonbats. Enjoy Pelosi and Reid while you have them. They will be retired soon.

PSS...... The last 4 years of the Bush admin, we had a Democratic congress, Soooo.... Who screwed up the economy?????

Robert

Aug 12, 2009

It would appear that President Obama made a boo boo in this comparison. Without the use of a teleprompter, his message is suspect.

Jim

Aug 12, 2009

The correct analogy is not the Post Office. Instead it is getting your driver's license renewed at the DMV.
Long lines, Byzantine rules and regulations, slow, slipshod service by people who really don't give a (insert favorite term here).

Remember, "If you like going to the DMV, you're going to LOVE Obamacare!"

Jim Lorenz

Aug 12, 2009

A great question was asked of Sen, Spectre (pun) at a recent 'townhall' encounter: A very brave woman stood up and asked the FRN$136,000 /yr CONgresscritter, "When will you begin to enforce the Constitution?"
He was flummoxed, frozen, crestfallen. Too bad the clip editor cut this off.

You folks are mostly arguing about diversionary details of bills that are UNCONSTITUTIONAL on their faces.

Please read the Law of the Land for yourselves, then judge every proposal by its standard, first, last and always.

IF, if, the CONgress had stuck to the Constitution in 1913 (to pick a year) we wouldn't be circling the monetary drain today. No FRS, IRs or Marxist New Deal would be robbing us today. We'd have paper bills reedemable in silver or gold.

diane

Aug 12, 2009

Will someone please give the president his teleprompter back

Carol

Aug 12, 2009

How about the fact that providing postal service is a constitutional responsibility of the Federal govt. Not so for healthcare.

evergreen78

Aug 13, 2009

Excuse me, but aren't Post Office employees "GS," as in "civil service"? Doesn't that mean ALL of the money the P.O. gets is "government money"?

oldguysrule

Aug 13, 2009

No, Post Office employees are not "GS" and the money they get is from selling stamps (except when Congress requires free stamps like for the blind without reimbursing the Post Office) And, Congress is requiring the Post Office to contribute extra Billions each year to their Health Care fund, creating at least half their money shortfall. It would be nice if folks would even try a little bit to understand the real issues here before spouting nonsense.

StepIntoTheLight

Aug 13, 2009

Obama loves to point out the obvious, but most people do not seem to understand his promises -- government is never the solution to our problems.

His postal service comment is accurate. Government created a monopoly, and ran it into the ground, much like the Steel industry, Manufacturing, and programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc which liberals love so much. Problem is, there is NO MONEY to pay for any of these programs. Time to scale back the dial on government spending and get back to balanced budgets with clean accounting rules.

joodles

Aug 13, 2009

socialism-trickle up poverty

Hawker

Aug 13, 2009

Obama went "Postal" and shot himself in the foot.

epizeteo

Aug 13, 2009

The big cost of postal service is rural communities. UPS and Fed Ex send their rural packages through the Post Office to cut their costs. If the Postal Service went private, rural customers would be paying much higher prices and UPS and Fed Ex already have rural surcharges for the packages they accept. A first class letter cost 2 cents to mail in 1902...now 44 cents. I think the postal service has held its cost down much better than the average company. It is not supported by taxes.

userkatey

Aug 13, 2009

The post office does receive federal money but this money is not for daily operations but for free or reduced price postage for the blind or overseas voters. Private companies also receive funding to administer charity services. Many companies receive federal money that does not mean that they operate by means of tax funding.

Guy Jones

Aug 14, 2009

The funny thing is, why is President Obama making such a remote analogy with respect to the Post Office and H.R. 3200, when the federal government's decades-long dismal record of healthcare involvement is plain for all to see? The continual woes plaguing the Indian Health Service and VA system; $64 trillion in unfunded liabilities on Medicare's balance sheet (plus the fact that fewer and fewer doctors are accepting Medicare); the fact that Medicare is essentially subsidized and propped up by privately insured people who pay higher premiums to doctors to offset the lower rates that Medicare pays them. The answer is, because neither Obama nor any Democrats want to own up to the federal government's incompetence and mismanagement when it comes to the healthcare issue...

racVT

Aug 14, 2009

When Lysander Spooner started the American Letter Mail Company in Boston, the post office was charging 10 cents per letter. He charged 3 cents per letter and made a profit! Then he was sued for competing withthe Post Office and finally gave up becuase he couldn't afford to keep paying to defend his case.
The govt lowered its post office rates BECAUSE of his competition!
The end game of the Public Option is to kill all competition.

NYLIL

Aug 14, 2009

Bush messed up the Post Office??? What was their excuse before he became president? My brother lives in Nassau County NY. He received a letter meant FOR (not from) someone in Australia - different name, address, country! How is Bush responsible for that? Maybe it's the quality of the employees? I live at the end of a dead end street - 12 houses on both sides - and my husband has to re-deliver the mail to our neighbors almost every day.

Joker!

Aug 14, 2009

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Post Offices got hit, now, after this comment. Perfect way to make the case: Post Office = Universal Health Care = Socialism = Problems

...Obama did, in fact, say he was cool with artists placing political messages "on a stop sign."

Unicorn68

Aug 14, 2009

I cannot believe this drivel coming from Biggun. Sounds liker he is trying justify his job with the USPS. He is obviously an Obama fanatic still trying to blame Bush for all that ails this country. The fact of the matter is that the USPS has not kept pace with technology. The internet and email have reduced the business available for the USPS. Let the purveyors of the junk mail pay the same as first class mail. Maybe it will expand revenues.

phoof

Aug 16, 2009

To all you idiots who blame the Post Office mess on Bush...HR 6407, co-sponsored by Henry Wamxan (D-CA), passed the House of Representatives on a voice vote and the Senate by unanimous consent. Not one single Democrat is on record as voting against this bill. Bush signed it but Congress passed it. Stop lying and present the facts.

phoof

Aug 16, 2009

Sorry, it's Waxman, not Wamxan.

Lyles

Aug 17, 2009

Obama's real mistake was comparing apples to oranges. The real competition for the USPS is the internet and cellular technology not FedEx and UPS. They're package delivery companies. Why send a letter when an email or text message is so much faster. Who wrote his answers?

J. L.

Aug 27, 2009

I understand Obama was a little shorthanded so he got the FAA to help with the paperwork for "cash for clunkers". Maybe he plans to use postal workers when he runs short on health care professionals.

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Sep 1, 2009

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Sep 10, 2009

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BrianT

Sep 15, 2009

BIGGUN has made some rather foolish assumptions. Simply because one is critical of Obama and/or of the protection received by the U.S.P.S. does NOT render them a fan of either the Bush years or of the Republican party! To the libertarians of the world, Jennifer the Cat and others have the far better arguments. The government should neither be in the business of delivering the mail (BIGGUN- you're right - the post office is failing and that's without even having any competition) nor of delivering health care! Nor is there the slightest reason or evidence to suggest that politicians can do it well, without corruption or protectionism.

Postal Employee

Sep 30, 2009

First, let me say that the Postal Service receives no federal tax dollars for any of its operations. Secondly, the reason the Post Office lost billions of dollars in 2008 is because the Board of Governor's requires that we prefund health benefits for retirees. For those of you that do not understand: Say there are currently 100,000 people retired from the Post Office, the Post Office pays their portion of those retirees benefits. Instead of paying those benefits yearly, like every other federal agency, we are now required to pre-fund health care benefits for retirees.

ANGUISHING

Oct 11, 2009

Priorities r really out of whack in gov. Billions if not trillions dollars sent overseas to help other countries, rescue people, feed them then sparcity or going without for Americans. Sort of like a dead beat dad. Ignores his kids needs or wives' but has for others. The Reserve can just print more funds as well they don't tell you that.

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Obama's Post Office health care disaster

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
08/12/09 9:50 AM EDT