Obama on, Oudin out

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                                                           Inflection

 When every American citizen in my class is splitting out to different areas reporting the public's reaction, I decided to stay on campus (no car=no place to go), in Cafe 29, watching the speech and watching students watch the speech.

  Unfortunately, since healthcare is not education, seldom is there any student interested in the show, not even the crew from our Health Center who were dining in Café 29.

More people crowded in front of another TV broadcasting US Open live, in which the miraculous Odin was trying to achieve another miracle.

  Watching Obama's address to Congress didn't raise as many questions as watching people watch it. Why students at Café 29 preferred Oudin to Obama? Why there is almost no one care about what their president is talking about?

Is Café 29 a wrong location for an event like this? I had thought where there's a public restaurant, there's a political topic. However, in the big dining hall, only two people were fixing on the CNN LIVE channel. Me and a student waiting for his friend.

  Admittedly, health care is never a hot topic among students since their expenses are covered by their parents. A Chinese-American Mom told me about the phenomenon that American students' extreme lack of interest in politics. "They are spoiled. They always confined themselves into their XBOX world."

  What about the staff from Health Center? As long as the reform plan won't reduce their salary, they are ok, I assume.

  It is far from a satisfying experience of joining an event. But I got the more rare opportunity to witness a phenomenon, sad but true.

  I have to confess that I, as a Chinese student, don't care much about my country's health care policy either. But that's because we don't have a choice. Standing in American' shoes, I might be interested in Obama's reform plan since I have a say in deciding whether the plan is good or bad. I have an option to choose that works best for me.

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Epilogue

  However, the number of audiences doesn't indicate the effect of the events.

Jack Chan, retired from the position as president of his own architectural firm of thirty five years was glad that "we are proactive about the process and we have a dedicated President who cares about our country. I would be more satisfied should we all help to move ahead on this long overdue reformation process."

After listening the whole speech, Chan expressed his confidence, "As I understand the reform is to reflect our need for a more affordable and accessible health care for all Americans, it should affect our country positively.

If we make caring for our health a human right instead of a privilege then we can spare ourselves from having to rationalize our existence to those less privileged.

We believe President Obama cares. Where as we all have our debilities, I believe he acts from sincerity and love for the country and its people. We need to support such an act from whomever is willing to shoulder the huge responsibility."

See? After curtain dropped down, Oudin was out, while Obama was on.