March 5, 2009 9:07PM # A Ditch, Not a Summit By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE When President Obama opened today’s summit on health care reform at the White House, he [said](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/05/AR2009030501850.html): > In this effort, every voice has to be heard. Every idea must be considered. Of course, he spoke those words to a room that contained not a single advocate of free-market health care reform. - No one from the American Enterprise Institute ([ranked](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/2008_Global_Go_To_Think_Tanks.pdf) the #5 think tank in the world for health policy) - No one from the Cato Institute ([ranked](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/2008_Global_Go_To_Think_Tanks.pdf) #7) - No one from the National Center for Policy Analysis ([ranked](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/2008_Global_Go_To_Think_Tanks.pdf) #10) - No one from the Manhattan Institute - No one from the Pacific Research Institute - No one from the Galen Institute - No one from the Heritage Foundation - The list goes on… Obama did, however, invite people from left-wing think tanks, including avowed advocates of [socialized medicine](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9679). That makes Obama’s pledge of openness a farce, and today’s event a charade. Or as my colleague [Wayne Crews](http://cei.org/people/clyde-wayne-crews) puts it: it’s a ditch, not a summit. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).