Over the weekend, KRMJ producer Greg Mikolai attended Obama's town hall meeting in Grand Junction as a member of the press. Around 1,600 people packed into Central High School to hear and discuss Obama's health care overhaul plan.
Mikolai caught the meeting on camera, as well as citizen reactions immediately following (see below). He strongly urged me – and all of you – to watch the video in its entirety. It gives a solid indication of Obama's positions on health care reform, he said, without any editorializing from talking heads or "media sifting."
One of the biggest misconceptions out there, Mikolai noted, is that President Obama is looking to create a single-payer program. For better or worse, what he proposed in Saturday's meeting was a public option along with the private insurance plans.
Mikolai commended the crowd's behavior. "Grand Junction conducted itself with the utmost decorum and respect for
both sides of this issue, without rancor and without malice," he said. "We set a good tone for how the rest of the country should try to approach the debate."
So what do you think of these town meetings and how the media is handling the health care debate? Are the important issues being discussed? Would everyone be served by Obama's plan?
I invite you to all watch and decide for yourself where you come down on this.
-Elizabeth Mayer, Rocky Mountain PBS
This div will be replaced
Check out
rmpbs.org/health for real-life health care stories, blogs and resources.
