Introduction
Health care in the United States has been on the fore front of reforms for many decades in the past. It has, in most cases, been highlighted during major political times and a number of changes made over the time period. In his presidential campaign, President Barrack Obama made a promise to ensure a comprehensive reform in the health care sector which was signed in the year 2010. This paper seeks to discuss the documentary, ‘Obama’s ordeal’. The paper will look into the content of the documentary to identify aspects which are surprising, disappointing and those that are pleasing.
Surprising aspects
The end of the presidential race that saw President Barrack Obama into the white house portrayed him as a populist and left him admired among people, not only in the United States but across the globe. Having been one of the president’s campaign promises, the health care reform was expected to be one of his popular initiatives that would be widely accepted and received by both the American people and its leaders. The majority democrats would for example be expected to push for the plans of their leaders in the congress as had been the normal political battles in the house. A surprise was however to be realized as the process of passing and enacting the reforms took a twist and is seen to have been done against the will of the American people.
Bitter exchanges are reported to have been raised in the process of developments of the reforms with accusations of closed door deals that were meant to help in paving the way for the president’s will. A lot of money was spent in just making deals with stake holders such as leading pharmacists among other stake holders. After the struggle which was won by the president following the singing of the health reform, a surprise in the support that the president and his party had enjoyed was realized to have faded from American people. It looked like people never understood what the president had meant by comprehensive health reforms during the campaigns. The whole story weakened the president’s popularity and that of his party to even cost democrats a congress seat during an election (BPS, 2010).
Disappointing aspects
The whole story about the health reform bill was a disappointment to most Americans. Whether to normal citizens or the political class, there were feelings of betrayals that were felt. The first disappointment as felt was with respect to those that were close to the president, who felt that the whole bill was unpopular and yet were not listened to. Many of the president’s advisers for example were opposed to the campaigns for the bill but were ignored by the president. The major close group that felt the disappointment was the democrat community that suffered from popularity setback. The entire American society, especially the ones who voted for the president also felt the disappointment (BPS, 2010).
Pleasing Aspects
Though the process of passing the bill was marked with a lot of controversies, there were a number of reasons to rejoice about the bill. The bill has a number of benefits that includes the provision of health security in the country (MacAskill & Clarke, 2010).
Conclusion
The path to the passage of the health reform bill was marked with extensive controversy that was historic in the United States. Though it caused conflicts, surprises and even disappointments, the bill had a promise that brought relief to some Americans in terms of health security.
References
BPS. (2010). Obama launches his health reform drive. Web.
MacAskill, E & Clarke, A. (2010).Triumphant Obama takes health care reforms on the road. Web.