I'm not a fan of the assholes at Daily Kos, but I dug one up that clearly shows how easily Obama can flip flop on the the public option. "mcjoan" says that Obama is for a "robust public option" and he believes him, but he also reports that Obama is "Open" to Co-ops in Place of Public Option. He thinks it's a terrible idea and so do I.
http://tinyurl.com/nxddqz http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/7/763238/-Obama-Open-to-Co-ops-in-Place-of-Public-Option --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jst...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "raunchydog" <raunchydog@> wrote: > > > > Lots of rhetoric and diddly squat about a public option. > > I think he's describing what he's pretty sure he's > going to get, and not promising anything he's > uncertain about. The provisions he lists are > just crucially important. > Obama, "outline" is pretty sketchy, at best. There's so little "there, there" that no one can fault him if it blows up. My worry about any bill that passes without a public option, is that it will turn into an insurance industry feeding frenzy. Some co-op or other weasel invention either is unacceptable. We have to have a public option. > He's said over and over again that he would like a > public option. I don't see any reason to think that > he really *doesn't* want it. But there's *huge* > opposition to it, and he'd rather get what he > outlines here than have the whole thing go down in > flames because he's insisted on a public option. > Obama is in the middle of competing forces. He pleases them by talking out of both sides of his mouth. On the left he has activist pushing hard for a public option, and he's telling them to back off. The left's opponent is the insurance industry that helped put Obama in office. Now of these two masters, who has the most sway? I'd like to think it's the folks that voted for him not the folks who bought him. But as the saying goes, money talks. I posted an article from Black Agenda Report the other day that pretty much supports what I'm saying. In case you missed it: http://tinyurl.com/kj4xhh http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/battle-health-care%C2%A0-between-now-and-labor-day-its-still The best idea to come out of the article lowered the age for Medicare eligibility every year until it covered everyone. It isn't a dramatic change, it's easy to do, it side-steps the need for "insurance reform" and forces insurance companies to be competitive. It's a no brainer but Congress has a thousand page bill that no one reads when they could have written this idea on the back of a napkin. > I don't know whether he could have gotten a public > option if he'd been more forceful, but I seriously > doubt it. > All Obama has to do is start talking about reducing the age for medicare coverage and emphasis the poll numbers that show the MAJORITY of Americans want a public option. He should hammer these two points home every day and every day until, people start thinking, yes, the is an easy, understandable plan and yes, we DO want a public option. Hammer it home until the Republicans and Blue Dogs are pissing their pants, afraid they will lose elections because they DO NOT represent the majority. We have NOT seen the media drive these points home ALL. Instead, they report conflict, dramatic isolated incidents, beer the president, birthers, Palin, Michael Jackson, Republican infidelity, etc. They feed us fear instead of hope. The heightened rhetoric from the left and the right is a manufactured brewhaha IMO orchestrated by the powerful forces in the insurance industry greasing palms on both sides of the aisle and the media just sets the stage for the Kabuki dance. Anything and everything to keep us from discovering our common ground, "We DON'T disagree on the public option and yes, we the majority DO want a public option." > I don't know whether it would have been better had > he put together a bill, handed it to Congress, and > told them to pass it, a la the Clintons, but he > obviously thought that wasn't the way to go, that > he'd be able to get more of what he wanted if he > instead told Congress what he wanted and had them > draft the bill. > Well, how convenient...again. There are no Obama finger prints to be found at scene of the crime. It's seems to be a pattern. Congress owns this pig. O.K. there are several committees working on bills but there is only one where the buck stops, the Senate Finance Committee where the fucker Max Baucus, foremost insurance lobbyist whore, took the public option off the table even before they had their first meeting. Well how about that? I just found this link and guess what? There is no public option in the Senate Finance bill. "Emerging elements of the Senate Finance draft include: No public health insurance plan, no employer mandate and no denial of coverage for preexisting conditions; a likely individual mandate and subsidies to help buy insurance; a network of nonprofit, member-owned cooperatives and state-based health insurance exchanges to expand access; taxes on high-end insurance policies; and a price tag of around $900 billion over 10 years." Read More: http://tinyurl.com/mvuews http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/08/08/senates-gang-of-six-key-to-healthcare-reform/ Weak knee bastards. > I think he's doing the best he can against very, > very tough odds. Whether it's good enough, whether > it's the best that *can* be done, isn't clear yet, > at least not to me. > I'd like to trust Obama a little more and give him the benefit of the doubt as you do, but history of flip flops tells me otherwise.
