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I overheard that on CNN just now, "the buck stops with me" was what I heard and written down according to the pronunciation from the speech of Barack Obama. What does that mean?

P.S. The topic discussed on TV was about the "Obama Care". The president was also saying something like "you can keep your plan","Nobody is taking your doctors away from you"...

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    If you put “the buck stops with me” in Google, you'll get a history of the idiom and a definition as the first two results. Did you try this? Did you find those answers lacking?
    – Tyler James Young
    Oct 30, 2013 at 5:45
  • Thanks for telling me. I didn't think of anything about googling it when I heard that expression. And I did hope to get a more specific or timely answer from some American friends since it is happening and broadcasting in the US right now.
    – dennylv
    Oct 30, 2013 at 6:05
  • It didn't occur to me that it could be an idiom in English. I only knew "buck" as "US dollar" half an hour ago.
    – dennylv
    Oct 30, 2013 at 6:14
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    You should add comments like "I only knew 'buck' as 'US dollar' half an hour ago" into your question when you initially ask your questions. Such comments help us understand why this is a good English question, and not simply a matter of being too lazy to research the question. As for not understanding Obamacare, most people in the U.S. don't understand it, either. It's a nickname given to a sweeping health care reform act passed last year.
    – J.R. ♦
    Oct 30, 2013 at 9:15

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This is a take on the saying The buck stops here

The saying "the buck stops here" derives from the slang expression "pass the buck" which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buck," as the counter came to be called, to the next player.*

President Truman had a sign with this saying on his desk in the White House. (see the link above for some interesting info).

Here, Obama is saying that the responsibility resides with him- in other words, he is responsible.

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  • Did I make the expression "the buck stops with me" right word by word? And an off-topic question, What is happening about the "Obama Care"?
    – dennylv
    Oct 30, 2013 at 5:46
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    Yes, that looks right, I didn't hear the speech but I think you got it.
    – Jim
    Oct 30, 2013 at 5:47
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    @dennylv As you said, that question is off topic. Try Politics SE.
    – Tyler James Young
    Oct 30, 2013 at 6:03
  • Ok.I see.I am still not quite used to this forum yet.
    – dennylv
    Oct 30, 2013 at 6:21
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    +1 for the Truman reference. Because of the positive association with President Truman in the U.S., a political leader is more apt to use this wording in a speech than, say, "I am the one responsible," or, "I will take the blame for this." It's a way to admit fault yet still sound "presidential."
    – J.R. ♦
    Oct 30, 2013 at 9:20

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