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This week on Uprising:

* Obama Impresses and Disappoints with Healthcare Speech
* Black Agenda Report on Obama, the Black Caucus, and Health care
* Analyzing the Presidency: Rightwing Assaults and Progressive Responses
* 9/11 Legacy: The Persecution of Muslims

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Obama Impresses and Disappoints with Healthcare Speech

Addressing a joint session of Congress last Wednesday, President Obama laid out his case for health care reform in the strongest terms yet. As expected, he did not push hard on requiring a public option, but he did strike back passionately at the falsehoods perpetuated by some conservatives and Republicans over the summer. Obama spelled out that under his proposal all Americans would be required to buy basic health insurance, potentially from an insurance exchange. He also made it clear that he would not sign any bill that increased the federal deficit. At one point in an unprecedented breach of etiquette, when clarifying that the health bill would not cover undocumented immigrants, Obama was heckled by Republican Joe Wilson who yelled out, “you lie.” As Congress returns to the business of lawmaking, it remains to be seen if a healthcare reform bill will pass both houses before the end of the year. Various House committees have passed their versions of bills but the sticking point remains the Senate, where without the vote of Edward Kennedy, the Democrats do not have a super-majority. In his address, Obama closed his speech by paying tribute to the late Senator from Massachusetts. A CNN poll showed that Obama gained 14% support for his plan among those Americans who tuned in.

GUEST: Dave Lindorff, award-winning investigative reporter and author of the blog, ThisCantBeHappening.net, regular columnist for CounterPunch, author of The Case for Impeachment

Read Dave Lindorff’s article here: http://www.alternet.org/politics/142463/my_fellow_americans_–_the_speech_obama_should_give_on_health_care/

The Black Agenda Report on Obama, the Black Caucus and Healthcare

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is on Obama, the Black Caucus and Healthcare.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Analyzing the Presidency: Rightwing Attacks and Progressive Responses

Even though the benign content of President Obama’s recent Back-to-School speech defused much of the right-wing brouhaha leading up to it, the White House in general seems completely unprepared for the conservative onslaught of the past 8 months. Whether it’s a controversy about Obama’s birthplace, made-up horror stories of death panels, or the communist background of Green Jobs czar Van Jones, the Administration seem to be constantly in damage control mode. The weekend resignation of Jones was characterized by one progressive commentator John Nichols, as a surrender of the Obama administration rather than a victory for the right wing. As Congress and the White House return from summer break this week to take up legislation, it remains to be seen what progress if any, will be made on issues like health care reform and the economy.

GUEST: Bill Fletcher, Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and the co-author of “Solidarity Divided.” Fletcher is also the Executive Editor of the Black Commentator, and the co-founder of Progressives for Obama

Read Bill Fletcher’s article about Obama here: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/article_6347.shtml

A 9/11 Legacy: Persecution of Muslims Continues

A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center has found that a majority of respondents place Muslims as the most persecuted religious group in the United States. Ahead of the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, fifty-eight percent of Americans polled said that people of the Muslim faith faced “a lot” of discrimination. The survey also noted that the number of Americans that believe Islam promotes violence more so than other religions has fallen seven percent from two years ago even with a majority of Conservative Republicans still holding the notion to be true. The Council on American-Islamic Relations responded to the survey by pointing out the effects of education about the Islamic faith in reducing prejudice. Though some of the Pew Research Center’s findings are encouraging, CAIR has recently cited that anti-Muslim incidents throughout the country have spiked prior to and during the holy month of Ramadan. Two women dressed in traditional Islamic clothing were harassed and threatened at a gas station in New York. Racial profiling also remains a concern after high profile Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was detained and questioned at an airport because of his Muslim name. Ironically enough, Khan was in the United States to film a movie on discrimination against Muslims in the post-9/11 world.

GUEST: Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director at the Council on American Islamic Relations

For more information, visit www.cair.com.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

““[Bigotry’s] birthplace is the sinister back room of the mind where plots and schemes are hatched for the persecution and oppression of other human beings.” — Bayard Rustin