I am responding to the ridiculous attacks made by Obama's rivals regarding his comments about a segment of Pennsylvania voters who feel bitter and disenfranchised.
I'm the mom of a severely brain injured (but exceptionally beautiful and sweet) 4 year old girl. She was featured on the Discover Health Channel's "Mystery Diagnosis" series. At 14 months old, after experiencing seizures since she was 3 months old, Daphne suffered two major strokes. An MRA revealed that Daphne had Moyamoya disease (www.moyamoya.com). Daphne's Children's Hospital of Philadelphia neurologist, an intelligent, kind man, told us that Daphne would probably not live more than two weeks. She went home on Hospice. However, we got in touch with a surgeon in Stanford, CA, who recommended a surgery for Daphne to reroute the blood supply to her brain. The surgery was a tremendous success, and Daphne has dramatically improved cerebral blood flow, although she will live for the rest of her life with the affects of her bilateral strokes. (www.daphnestory.com)
However, we are one of the lucky ones. Medicaid considers the surgery that Daphne received to be "experimental", despite extensive studies conducted on it in Japan (and the Japanese government's endorsement of the surgery), and WILL NOT COVER IT. Our surgeon told us of a woman in her 50s who died because Medicaid would not fund this surgery. I've learned of several others who've had to fight their private insurance tooth and nail (some unsuccesfully) to have this surgery performed by one of a handful of experienced Moyamoya specialists in the US, who may have been "out of network".
Barack Obama has a well-thought-out health care plan that addresses many of the defecits in our current system. I believe that his plan stands a much greater chance of being enacted than does his rival's. Obama also takes much more effort on his website than any other candidate to address the needs of Americans who have disabilities. He's the only candidate whose site addresses the possible environmental role on the epidemic of Autism.
Daphne, by the way, is a big Obama supporter!
I was talking to my grandfather, an outspoken Clinton supporter, last night and he insisted that Florida and Michigan votes should count in the primary election. He at least agreed with me that it would be unfair unless both states did a total re-vote.
Theoretically, I believe that in all fairness the peoples' vote should count, and the voters shouldn't be punished for mistakes made by their state's government.
But, if we're going to go by "fairness", and not by the rules, then we should be consistent about it. Florida and Michigan get a revote, but superdelagates are out. We go purely by popular vote.
Clinton, of course, wants to have her cake and eat it, too. She wants the votes in FL and Michigan to count, but says that Superdelagates should be able to choose whomever they want, regardless of the popular vote.
If we're playing by "the rules", then FL and Michigan are out, and Superdelagates are in. If we're going to change the playing field to ensure all voters are heard, then let's make sure it's a level playing field.
