Editor’s Note: Changing up the posting calendar here to allow the Saturday post to include the weekly President’s Radio Address. Week in Review now moves to Sunday to reflect on the previous week.

The week of course s was dominated by the build up, the event, and the analysis of the President’s Health Forum. In case you missed it, let’s get to the video highlights of the actual event.

Obama Takes on McCain

First, the McCain smack-down:

Harry Reid Setting the Stage:

In his opening remarks, Reid takes on the Republicans over their use of budget reconciliation to pass their own legislation, including the Contract for America.

House Speaker Pelosi Reminds Us of the Public Option

Good for her, Speaker Pelosi brings the conversation back to the campaign trail and the public option, restating its case.

Mr. President, I harken back to that meeting a year ago. At that time, Senator Grassley questioned you about the public option. And you said the public option is one way to keep the insurance companies honest and to increase competition. If you have a better way, put it on the table.

Well, I bring that up because we have come such a long way….As a representative of the House of Representatives, I want you to know that we were there that day in support of a public option which would save $120 billion, keep the insurance companies honest, and increase competition. [This describes the Medicare-rates version of the public option, not in the House bill. The current version saves $25 billion.] We’ve come a long way to agreeing to a Republican idea, the exchanges…because the insurance companies opposed the public option. They couldn’t take the competition.

We have in our bill [which includes a weaker public option], market-oriented, encouraging-to-the-private-sector initiatives. I think the insurance industry, left to it’s own devices, has behaved shamefully. And we must act on behalf of the American people. We have lived on their playing field all this time. It’s time for the insurance companies to exist on the playing field of the American people.

(more…)

President Obama tackles the healthcare reform and provides a preview of his upcoming healthcare summit next week with Republicans.

The bottom line is that the status quo is good for the insurance industry and bad for America. Over the past year, as families and small business owners have struggled to pay soaring health care costs, and as millions of Americans lost their coverage, the five largest insurers made record profits of over $12 billion.

And as bad as things are today, they’ll only get worse if we fail to act. We’ll see more and more Americans go without the coverage they need. We’ll see exploding premiums and out-of-pocket costs burn through more and more family budgets. We’ll see more and more small businesses scale back benefits, drop coverage, or close down because they can’t keep up with rising rates. And in time, we’ll see these skyrocketing health care costs become the single largest driver of our federal deficits.

Week in Review is back after a brief hiatus that included being stranded in D.C. during Snowmaggedon. Here are this week’s highlights:

1. Biden Comes out Swinging against Cheney
2. Rachel Maddow Exposes Republican Hypocrisy
3. Evan Bayh to Step Down – Blames Liberals
4. The Public Option Resurrected

Biden Comes Out Swinging Against Cheney

Joe Biden started the week for the Blues on the Sunday morning talk show circuit by going after Dick Cheney, torture supporter.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow Exposes Republican Hypocrisy on 1-Year Anniversary of the Stimulus Bill

The rising star of today’s new media is Rachel Maddow, current MSNBC talk show host. Here she takes down Republicans for voting against the stimulus bill but then returning home to take credit for it.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Evan Bayh to Step Down – Blames Liberals

Evan Bayh, Conservadem from Indiana, announced he would not seek re-election. Here’s what we are losing: Since Obama was elected president only Ben Nelson was a less dependable vote for Democrats when they were needed most– on crucial, substantive roll calls where Democrats either lost or almost lost. The 3 worst scores among Democratic senators for the 111th Congress:

Ben Nelson- 47.76
Evan Bayh- 53.73
Blanche Lincoln- 59.70

Not sure we are going to miss that.

The Public Option Resurrected

What started out as a mere suggestion had grown by the end of the week to gain support not only by the Obama Administration but Harry Reid as well. Stay tuned!

Welcome to the second installment of Week in Review for Saturday, January 30, 2010. Some of the top political issues and stories of this week are presented below.

1. Obama Takes on the GOP
2. SOTU
3. Single Payer Passes!

Obama Takes on the GOP!

Yesterday, President Obama took on House members of the GOP and fielded questions from the floor. Fortunately, the entire showdown was captured on video.

For more than an hour, the President had the opportunity to take on all challenges and talking points regarding his proposals and policies. Sit back and watch why some political analysts are calling it one of the most brilliant moves of Obama’s presidency.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(more…)

Dr. Howard Dean on the status of the current health care bill…Vote No!