Dans ce qui devrait être son dernier discours à la veille d'un vote de la Chambre des représentants sur la réforme du système de santé américain qu'il a qualifié d'«historique», Barack Obama a accusé les chaînes d'information continue de couvrir ce sujet comme s'il s'agissait d'une manifestation sportive (voir vidéo ci-dessous). Je cite un extrait de son allocution dans le texte :
Now, it would be nice if we were just kind of examining the substance, we were walking through the details of the plan, what it means for you. But that's not what the cable stations like to talk about. (Laughter.) What they like to talk about is the politics of the vote. What does this mean in November? What does it mean to the poll numbers? Is this more of an advantage for Democrats or Republicans? What's it going to mean for Obama? Will his presidency be crippled, or will he be the comeback kid? (Applause.) That's what they like to talk about. That's what they like to talk about. I understand.
One of the things you realize is basically that a lot of reporting in Washington, it's just like SportsCenter. It's considered a sport, and who's up and who's down, and everybody's keeping score. And you got the teams going at it. It's Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. (Laughter.)
Look, let me say this, George Mason: I don't know how this plays politically. Nobody really does. I mean, there's been so much misinformation and so much confusion and the climate at times during the course of this year has been so toxic and people are so anxious because the economy has been going through such a tough time. I don't know what's going to happen with the politics on this thing. I don't know whether my poll numbers go down, they go up. I don't know what happens in terms of Democrats versus Republicans.
But here's what I do know. I do know that this bill, this legislation, is going to be enormously important for America's future.