I question the GOP's wish to put a tonsil-stealing, foot-pilfering profiteer on TV to make their case. Nonetheless, the Republican Party has chosen Rep. Charles Boustany, a Louisiana surgeon, to deliver the response Wednesday:
Boustany, R-La., is a cardiovascular surgeon who was first elected in 2004. He represents southwest Louisiana. He is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and is a graduate of Louisiana State University Medical School... When President Clinton addressed both chambers of Congress to push his health care reform plan in 1993, the Republicans drafted then-House Minority Leader Bob Michel, R-Ill., and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kansas, to respond.
He's one-up on Obama in one respect, at least. Boustany said he's read and studied the bill:
To his credit, Congressman Boustany did say he read and studied the entire healthcare proposal. No small feat, as the bill is over a thousand pages long.
Maybe Obama will delegate his explaining the bill "line-by-line" to Boustany.