He was trying to defend the “Louisiana Purchase” special deal that was given to Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu to get her vote. He was saying that he agreed with that deal because it helped a state with a natural disaster to recover. That led him to use Hawaii as an example:
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This LINK is the transcript of the entire interview at FOX
Obama said he agreed with “The Louisiana Purchase” in Obamacare because it also covered the earthquake in Hawaii.
BAIER: Do you know which specific deals are in or out, as of today?
OBAMA: I am certain that we’ve made sure, for example, that any burdens on states are alleviated, when it comes to what they’re going to have to chip in to make sure that we’re giving subsidies to small businesses, and subsidies to individuals, for example.
BAIER: So the Connecticut deal is still in?
OBAMA: So that’s not — that’s not going to be something that is going to be in this final package. I think the same is true on all of these provisions. I’ll give you some exceptions though.
Something that was called a special deal was for Louisiana. It was said that there were billions — millions of dollars going to Louisiana, this was a special deal. Well, in fact, that provision, which I think should remain in, said that if a state has been affected by a natural catastrophe, that has created a special health care emergency in that state, they should get help. Louisiana, obviously, went through Katrina, and they’re still trying to deal with the enormous challenges that were faced because of that.
(CROSS TALK)
OBAMA: That also — I’m giving you an example of one that I consider important. It also affects Hawaii, which went through an earthquake. So that’s not just a Louisiana provision. That is a provision that affects every state that is going through a natural catastrophe.
Now I have said that there are certain provisions, like this Nebraska one, that don’t make sense. And they needed to be out. And we have removed those. So, at the end of the day, what people are going to be able to say is that this legislation is going to be providing help to small businesses and individuals, across the board, in an even handed way, and providing people relief from a status quo that’s just not working.
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Wild Thing’s comment…….
Has he lost his mind???? Maybe Obama is thinking of an earthquake was in one of our other 57 states
Hawaii has had only two major earthquakes, one in 1868 and one in 1975 which killed 77 people and two people respectively.
And the the “Louisiana Purchase” was only for exactly one state – Louisiana.