Montana: Barack Obama

Ahhh. August. Usually, it's pretty quiet in the Big Sky state. Not a lot of political craziness, even in hot election years.

But this is different. A bus is coming to town. To towns, rather.

This August congressional recess a load of well-heeled right-wingers will pass through a few towns in Montana, trying to tip the political balance away from health care reform. Check
here for their schedule.

Their goal: to pack town hall meetings and other events organized by our congressional delegation.  

At town hall meetings across the country, this group has show what they're about. They include a segment of the population known as "birthers" - (It's the latest paranoid theory about President Barack Obama; the scheme is to spread the false rumor that he was not born in the U.

Is the worm turning?
“Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother.” That’s what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.
Having lived in Oregon for several years and been aware of DeFazio’s liberal leanings, that remark is almost breathtaking in [...]

(Robert Struckman writes for the Montana Change That Works campaign, which is a project of the Service Employee International Union.)

"Labor unions are a big part of the solution" to the nation's economic crisis, said President Barack Obama to the leaders of the AFL-CIO earlier this week.

Obama addressed the issue of unions as part of his continued support of the Employee Free Choice Act in a meeting with the nation's top labor leaders on Tuesday this week.

Obama's central points: labor unions will help rebuild the American middle class and will always have a seat at the table.

More words from Obama below:

"I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem.

Max Baucus has outlined an aggressive timeline to get a health care bill to the floor of the U.S. Senate -- his aim is to have one by early or mid-Summer. That's faster than what earlier speculation I had heard was shooting for.

In Mike Dennison's writeup this morning, he notes, correctly, that the Massachusetts plan that is similar to Max's plan has not controlled costs as much as it wanted to -- with attendant concerns for individuals, business owners, and taxpayers.

But there's a meaningful difference between Max Baucus's plan and the Massachusetts plan: Max Baucus's plan contains a public health insurance option.