"Squandered Opportunity" some pretty harsh words from The Nation:

[amborin]

"....The White House quickly added confusion to the outrage by insisting the president didn't really say anything new. He's just being flexible. He still wants what most Democrats want--a government plan that gives people a real escape from the profit-driven clutches of the insurance companies. But serious power players will not be fooled by the nimble spinners. Obama choked. He raised the white flag, even before the fight got underway in Congress.

He hands the insurance industry a huge victory. He rewards the right-wing frothers who have been calling him Adolph Hitler or Dr. Death. He caves to the conservative bias of the major media who insist only bipartisan consensus is acceptable for big reform (a standard they never invoked during the Bush years). Obama is deluded if he thinks this will win him any peace or respect or Republican votes. Weakness does not lead to consensus in Washington. It leads to more weakness. The Party of No intends to bring him down and will pile on. Obama has inadvertently demonstrated their strategy of vicious invective seems to be working...."

<snip>

<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/greider>

[GarbagemanLB]

1. I will agree that Obama is weak if he doesn't stand up for a public option.

[WatchWhatISay]

4. Please don't hold your breath while you're waiting

We need 'ya:P

Wish I could find some reason, any reason, to hope

[democracy1st]

17. I knew it when he didn't stand up to Lieberman that was very telling

after all the bs that guy got away with

[Kdillard]

2. Just wow ,not helpful but I am sure this will get a ton of recs.

[amborin]

12. how is it not helpful?

Look, i donated to Obama's campaign, made lots of phone calls, wrote lots of emails, etc. So far, Obama has done some wonderful things for the environment. On that basis alone, he gets my support. But is it really a good idea to so quickly abandon one of the most important planks of any health care reform agenda, namely the public option? Without this, the insurance companies can keep raising rates as they please, and denying coverage with impunity. They have no competition. At present, they essentially have an oligopolistic grip on health care insurance in this country. On a side note, the absence of gov't run and funded health care in the U.S. gives other countries' corporations a competitive advantage over ours.

[IndianaGreen]

14. You are supposed to bury your head in the sand! Of course, if you were LGBT...

you would know by now that your hopes for a better future were just that, hopes.

[DebbieCDC]

3. Just what I've been thinking and saying

[Zenlitened]

5. Well, it's not too late for Dems to re-group and say "FU" to the right-wing.

But, honestly, what are the odds of them all suddenly remembering that They Are In Charge Now, and standing up and fighting for Progressive ideals? :( :( :(

[fascisthunter]

6. I Will Keep Repeating it... the Dem Party will Lose lots of votes if a Public Option is not passed

People will know for a fact that neither party represents the people.

[IndianaGreen]

8. People in Indiana voted for universal health care and real change

They didn't vote for insurance reform! Indiana went blue last year. It won't again!

[BlooInBloo]

7. (shrug) Nobody on left has ever liked Obama. That's not news.

[Kdillard]

9. + 1

[IndianaGreen]

13. -1 unrec

Insulting our intelligence is not helpful!

[BlooInBloo]

16. Can't insult what ain't there.

[vaberella]

37. +5. I've taken note of this. n/t

[quakerboy]

38. Odd that

Pretty sure I'm on the left. And I really like Obama.

[lapfog_1]

10. Energy bill and Cap and Trade will be DOA.

Since they now know they can kill things by unleashing the mass hysterical crowd, you can kiss any form of national green energy strategy goodbye. Big Oil and Big Coal have a *lot* more money than the health insurance industry.

[aquamarina]

11. We won the Presidency, the Senate and the House

Flexibility = Weakness

[mckara]

15. I Will Be Disappointed if We Don't Get a Public Option

If Obama can't get a public option in health care, the nomination in 2012 is up for grabs!

[polichick]

18. Quite of few of us have been saying it from the beginning - the other side sees...

...all this "reaching out" as weakness and they move on it ~ the president's job is not to be Jesus or Buddha.

[amborin]

19. remember how dems 'reached out' with the stimulus package?

all we got was a kick in the teeth from rethugs as thanks. Wasn't it the case that not a single
rethug voted for it (either in the house or the senate, can't remember just now), even though we had compromised?

Maybe Dems need to acknowledge to themselves that they possess quite a bit of power and shouldn't be
so hesitant to exercise it.

As many have already said, the rethugs never consulted with dems conerning their whacko and evil rethug agenda. They blew off any protests and forged ahead.

Why don't we take a harder, tougher line?

[polichick]

20. I agree 100%. Even after Rev. Warren treated the president unfairly...

...at that church debate, Obama invited him to speak at the innauguration. It's ridiculous.

And Dems in general sure know how to piss away a golden opportunity!

[amborin]

21. wonder if dems will ever have the opportunity again?

we have a popular president elected with a strong mandate; good dem numbers in the house and senate, etc. and here we are seemingly letting ourselves get bullied by an evil, marginal minority party.

[polichick]

22. I don't know - this is really heartbreaking. nt

[Zodiak]

27. 3 R Senators voted for the stimulus

Collins, Snowe, and Specter

[riderinthestorm]

28. Oh No! The President is playing chess! The "door in your face" negotiating strategy is passe!

Doncha know....

:argh:

Unfortunately, I've endured my fair share of abuse for suggesting this Pres and his Admin are going to end up with jackshit by not taking a harder, tougher line immediately. There's a strong contingent of Obama supporters (especially in GDP) who refuse to acknowledge that this battle over health care reform is going badly, and that this Admin miscalculated.

[BREMPRO]

23. I would give Obama more credit for strategy.

Remember the campaign when we all thought McCain had outmaneuvered him and was overtaking him in the polls? He made his final push and controlled the message when it counted. This is a game he knows how to play. I believe he's going about this health care campaign the same way. He's letting the opposition show their cards, make fools of themselves, biding his time, crafting and refining his message, both stroking and playing the stakeholders and waiting for the moment to pull it all together. I trust he will get it done WITH all his stated objective, including a public option.

[amborin]

24. hope you're right n/t

[IndianaGreen]

25. Obama is no Lyndon Johnson

You don't give up a bargaining position before you even sit at the table. Obama shot down Single Payer from the gitgo.

[BREMPRO]

26. He's been consistent on this from before he was elected so he hasn't given up any ground

He's consistently said for years that he would favor a single payer if we were creating a system from scratch, but that it would be too disruptive and politically unfeasible to eliminate an entire industry (private health insurance). He's a political realist, and believes in attainable evolution rather than idealistic revolution. I trust he will succeed with a plan that meets the vision he has outlined in his health care forums.

[Skittles]

31. it was the economy and Palin who torpedoed McCain

not "strategy:

[BREMPRO]

33. you're right, , i meant to say Clinton, not McCain.

he let the Clintons hang themselves. They wrote him off before super tuedsay, but his persistance and 50 state strategy paid off in the primaries and the election.

[Skittles]

34. nope

years of anti-Clintonism and sexism from the corporate media torpedoed them more than any "strategy"

[BREMPRO]

35. you seem to be unwilling to give him ANY credit for political strategy.

Clinton was the presumed nominee, and the odds, polls and his race were stacked against him. So if he didn't have an effective strategy, how did he win?

[Skittles]

36. I never saw her as the "presumed nominee"

my guess was a man would be president come hell or high water - Obama may be the first African American prez out of 43 but he's still the 43'rd male prez

[quakerboy]

39. We all thought that?

I don't recall thinking that. Could be wrong, but I recall thinking that the polls being taken were being purposely skewed, and having my main worry be that the Right was doing that because they knew they had the system rigged.

I hope you are right, but I'm not seeing it coming together yet. I am seeing the left peeling off and I see a lot of shadows of 92.

[amborin]

29. MotherJones bashes right wing "exchanges" are exchanges=coops? exchanges failed in Massachusettes

".....Like many of the foundation’s ideas, a health insurance exchange looks better on paper than in practice. When Massachusetts launched its health reform experiment in 2006, it relied heavily on Heritage's policy prescriptions.

Under then-Governor Mitt Romney, Massachusetts created a voluntary insurance exchange similar to the one Obama often promotes. Massachusetts outlines some basic requirements for plans that participate but it doesn’t set rates or reimbursement levels. And far from revolutionizing health care, the exchange—known in Massachusetts as the Connector—is demonstrating the limitations of relying solely on the market to solve the nation’s health care woes and rein in skyrocketing medical costs. ..."

/snip

<http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/08/obamas-insurance-plan-comes-right-wing-think-tank>


yipes....horrifiying article

says rt wing Heritage Foundation is the main opponent of single payer....and shows what a mess would ensue without public option

[Skittles]

30. harsh words? TRUE words

[budkin]

It's the truth.

[DU GrovelBot]

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