"Why isn't the White House pushing for a public option? There's something funny going on here."

[Better Believe It]

The president is back to lecturing us about health care reform
by John Aravosis
October 21, 2009

From ABC's Jake Tapper:

"As he did earlier in the night at a separate DNC fundraiser, the president pointed a finger to Democrats and Republicans for their role in health care reform. He called on Democrats to be united as they “keep their eye on the prize” in health care reform, and that when they get a bill they have to do "everything they can” to support it."

There's something funny going on here. We've got the polls on our side, we've finally got momentum on our side after the Teabagger mess in August, and the president himself supported the public option during the campaign, and claims to still support it as the best solution to our health care mess. Then why isn't the White House pushing for a public option?

We're missing something here. A political friend at dinner last night suggested that maybe the White House promised to kill the public option as part of its secret deal with Big Pharma last spring. I have no idea if that's true, but something is wrong here, some piece of the puzzle is missing. It's becoming increasingly clear that the President has no intention of including a real public option for everyone in the final bill. If he did, he would publicly push for it. He's refused. His staff has refused. In politics, as in life, if you tell your opponent that you're not terribly wedded to your proposal, then your proposal is toast.

There's something the President is not telling us. And it's rather annoying for him to be lecturing us about coming together when, frankly, we are together. Unified around a campaign promise he is so blithely blowing off. We have the best chance at reform in a generation, and this White House is trying awfully hard to get the bare minimum with the least possible effort. We deserve to know why.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/president-is-back-to-lecturing-us-about.html

[babylonsister]

1. What a surprise.

:eyes:

[Better Believe It]

2. I'm not surprised at all.

Mr. Reid met with President Obama at the White House Thursday to inform him of his inclination to add the public option to the bill, but did not specifically ask the president to endorse that approach, a Democratic aide said. Mr. Obama asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting, a White House official said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/health/policy/23health.html?_r=1&ref=us

[babylonsister]

3. Pffft. NYT, as usual, was trying to make a story out of nothing.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/did-obama-decline-to-express-a-preference-for-public-option-last-night-white-house-official-clarifies/

Did Obama Decline To “Express A Preference” For Public Option Last Night? White House Official Clarifies


Today’s New York Times reports that President Obama declined to “express a preference” in a private meeting last night when Harry Reid signaled his intention to put the public option in the final Senate bill. This may not sit well with public option supporters, who have already been questioning Obama’s commitment to their cause.

But I just checked in with a senior White House official, who offered a bit more clarity and detail, and this isn’t what it seems. For public option supporters, this one is not as bad as it sounds.

The Times reports that when Reid signaled “his inclination to add the public option to the bill,” Obama “asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting.”

But the senior White House official points out that the discussion was not about the public option in general. Rather, Reid was specifically raising the possibility of a public option with an opt-out clause as one potential route. On this specific policy option, the official says, “the White House did not state a position either way.”

And that’s as it should be, the official continues, because Reid has not made a final decision to take this route. So the White House wouldn’t be expected to take a position on it. Whether to go with the opt-out is “largely a question of legislative strategy,” the official says, and should be left to the Senate leadership to determine first whether it’s the best way forward.

The White House official adds that Reid was not even asking for Obama’s endorsement of the idea and instead was “just going through options.”

Public option enthusiasts, on this point, at least, you can rest easy.

[Cha]

4. Mediawhores..left and right..

have a booming business on DU.

[Better Believe It]

6. You just made a story out of nothing!

Why should we consider Greg Sargent's alleged interview with a unnamed White House official credible?


Don't you agree that Greg Sargent could have made this all up or that his super secret White House "official" might actually be a White House janitor or housekeeper?

:)

[CTLawGuy]

32. I know!

because it doesn't matter if there is a PO in the senate bill, because it will be in the conference report that goes BACK to the senate, regardless. So wow, no shock.

[bluestateguy]

5. I saw Jake Tapper's name

and immediately hit unrecommend and refused to read it.

[Better Believe It]

7. How impressive! You can read names! However, you didn't do a very smart thing.

If you had bothered to read the article you would have learned that Tapper didn't write the piece!

You might want to read articles in the future before you attack them.

Do you also review movies you haven't seen?

[Sub Atomic]

42. Do you also review movies you haven't seen?

:rofl:

+1

[krawhitham]

43. I read then Unrecommend

Are we happy now

It is just another BS story to get web clicks

"A political friend" who will not be names because they really do not exist told me something and I need a news worthy story, so let me lie lie lie

[Lord Helmet]

18. Tapper defended Fox "Noos"

LINK

:thumbsdown:

[mkultra]

22. and BBI defends tapper thus BBI supports fox news

:7

[mkultra]

21. I saw his name and read it anyway. Its a complete fabrication of point

He makes a couple of blind assertions as fact and then wanders on creating theories for his now found facts. He weaved a story out of nothing.

[IndianaGreen]

45. Then you are an intellectual version of a birther

People that shut their minds off to anything that may challenge their personal universe.

[mariawr]

52. Jake has a RW bent to his reporting.. good lil soldier. nt

[vaberella]

8. Obama proposed the idea for a public option last I heard. NO ONE ELSE.

That being said, I find it absurd to suggest he's not fighting for it. Why propose it in the first place then---when no one else cared for it and was screaming "single payer or bust?" The article is crap in my estimation.

[Better Believe It]

11. President Obama also proposed and supported single payer. So what's your point?

[vaberella]

14. He didnt run on single payer as candidate.

And I'm basing on his campaign promise during this candidacy and Presidency. My point is there. He's pushed for the PO and supports it.

[Bluenorthwest]

46. He ran on 'No Mandates'

and now he's Mr Mandate. So what he says at one point and another are just random things. He used to support equal civil rights for all, now he does not. His word is worthless.

[IndianaGreen]

50. He attacked Hillary on mandates

Who would have guessed he would put single payer off the table right off the bat, and make a smoke-filled room deal with PhRMA?

[Clio the Leo]

56. His problem was not with the mandates....

... but with the lack of subsidies to assist those who could not afford the mandate.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/29/obama_criticizes_health_care_mandate_patrick_lukewarm_also/

The mandates required by the HELP, Finance and House Tri-Committee bills all address this issue.

[mkultra]

23. pre campaign proposals do not get to count as broken promises

the point was, as a candidate, he singularly proposed and is now pushing PO.

[Oregone]

13. You think its "his" idea?

[joeycola]

34. Who then? just asking.

[Atticus]

9. I just "unrecced" this.

Lord knows I have my concerns about much of the "sausage-making" now taking place in Washington, but after reading this, I have to wonder if Glenn Beck isn't moonlighting as a columnist and using Arovosis as his nom de plume.

President Obama is accused of a making "secret deal" with Big Pharma to "kill the public option" and the authority for this slanderous political vomit is---an (unnamed) "political friend at dinner last night"!

Puh-leeze! DRUDGE would be ashamed to publish such tripe.(Well, maybe not, but we should be)

[Better Believe It]

10. President Obama announced his deal with the medical care crooks.

Well, President Obama did make a deal with big Pharma and the private insurance industry. President Obama even called a news conference to brag about it. Did you forget about that one little tiny detail?

The big question is .... what did President Obama offer them in return. Do you know the answer to that question?

If you do, I'm listening!

[mkultra]

24. is that a fact

My last recollection of that event was that a news paper reported it one way and the WH reported it another. Do you always assume that Obama lies?

[krawhitham]

44. All hillraisers believe Obama always lies

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. Obama loves the public option, he's just not in love with the public option

[FrenchieCat]

15. .

:boring:

Here, jump in! The water's fine.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

16. Thanks for the laugh!

:rofl:

That pretty much says it all regarding the state of mass hysteria here at DU regarding Health Care Reform lately! I hope that nobody literally blows a gasket over it by the time this is all over. Geez!!!

[Kind of Blue]

41. That is hilarious. What is it from?

[jeanpalmer]

17. We'll find out soon

With the House just 12-15 votes short of a robust PO, and the Senate appearing ready to support a PO with an opt out, seems like the minimum we should get is a PO with an opt out. The only other player is the WH which according to Politico: "Obama told Senate Democratic leadership at the White House Thursday evening that his preference is for the trigger championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe."

We don't know if that report is true; but if we end up with a trigger, we'll pretty well know who was responsible for it.

[Better Believe It]

20. A "trigger" for a public option that might only cover 5% of the population?

Talk about watering it down!

[JTFrog]

19. Plop!

Thanks for the daily turds!

Keep up the good fight!

[joeycola]

38. Thanks for the daily cheerleading and keeping your head in the sand.

[JTFrog]

39. If ignoring Jake Tapper means I'm dooooooomed,

then so be it.

Get A BRAIN! MORANS

[Overseas]

25. Here is my attempt to answer why to all the odd "leaks" on the PO

It bothered me that we did raise another groundswell of support for a public option open to all, and bring more legislators toward supporting it-- then we got treated to another "leak" that the White House is still hoping for that ridiculous One GOP Vote to make it 1% Bipartisan. That is what is discouraging. We get our momentum going and then that kind of "golly we're still trying to get that one vote" story rolls out of the White House.

WHY? To preserve more insurance/corporate funding for Democrats as long as they can?

After Anthony Weiner and Alan Grayson had come forward and re-energized those of us who want the public option because thousands die early every month due to lack of health care and we have a good model for the public option running already, called Medicare-- after we all contacted our Congresspeople and Senators one more time and the public option was gaining steam again--

WHY THEN did the White House let another rumor slip that they would be chasing that tiny little vote-- that 1% bipartisanship-- once again?

I would have led right off the bat with Medicare for Everyone who wants it as the public option, as the quickest and most effective way to address the intense problems of our current system. HOWEVER, I did wonder whether the administration might have other aims in holding back--

1) Expose the depths to which private insurers will sink in hiring amoral professional right wing PR groups like FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity to stir up dangerous fear and hatred among our desperate fellow citizens just to protect their private profits.

2) Get the Democrats to act more like Democrats by having their constituents tell them, again and again, that they want and support a public option OPEN TO ALL and making them fight for what their constituents actually want. I did wonder if our president was doing that; hanging back because we've got 60 Democrats in the Senate who should be representing us constituents instead of their corporate donors and pushing that public option. Perhaps he was holding back to push the Democrats who have compromised important issues before, hiding behind the need for bipartisanship, to GROW A SPINE ALREADY.

So just as more of our Congressional leaders have been showing spines and opening up to the public option we get treated to more of the eerie waffling.
-- Harry Reid saying he was kinda sorta moving in the direction of perhaps talking about a public option last week,
and then
-- another of those "behind the scenes" leaks that the WH is still chasing that 1% bipartisanship.

So does that mean I need to send my 25th message to my Senators and Congressperson begging that they do the right thing? And after we create Groundswell #5 for the public option, will we be treated to another behind the scenes discouraging rumor?

Is the Obama Administration trying to toughen all of us up in this health care debate because we have to push for curbs on US carbon emissions next, and that will bring us into conflict again with giant corporate powers in the fossil fuel sectors and the military industrial complex?

[cliffordu]

26. Why does everyone think the WH isn't pushing for the public option

just because they aren't bragging about it all over the news???

They killed a couple of high profile al queda dudes lately that Bushy would have publicly stroked himself over without a word....

No Drama Obama...'Member???

[MarjorieG]

27. Obama still has to work WITH Congress over many issues. How he plays this to get PO is essential.

I am sure he's trying to educate Landrieu how misinformed she is, and maybe Bayh how incredibly selfish he is. We'll see.

[Better Believe It]

54. Is the White House pushing for a strong public option available to everyone? Prove it!

[hileeopnyn8d]

28. This is from

a press briefing yesterday aboard Air Force One. No anonymous source, it came from the deputy press secretary aboard a plane with the President. I don't think press secretaries have a habit of misrepresenting their boss in such close proximity.

Q Can you talk about the opt-in versus opt-out public option? It seems like there's apparently a vote being taken as you and I speak this moment in a caucus in the House on all of this. Do you -- does the President believe that some sort of public option will be in both bills when they pass the floors? And does he favor some particular approach to the public option that he thinks is the most likely to pass?

MR. BURTON: This may surprise you, but the President didn't send his number two spokesperson to the back of the plane to roll out a new position on the public option today. (Laughter.) The President thinks that the public option is the best way to achieve choice and competition and bring down health care costs for the American people. And he will continue to ensure that it is achieved in the final health care reform legislation.

and another:

Q What's going on with the vote counts? Valerie took a shot at Mike Allen this morning on MS saying that he probably -- she doesn't know if he can count votes. The White House obviously can count votes. Are there the votes there in the House for the public option?

MR. BURTON: Far be it from me to question Valerie's assessment of Mike Allen's vote counting. However, I will say that the President continues to think that the public option is the best way to achieve choice and competition, and that's what he's working towards.

Is that clear enough?

[Baltoman991]

29. No, it won't

be good enough because some around here won't be happy until he uses the words "I command you to give me what I want and that's a robust public option".

Try as we might to prove that it's what he wants, it will never be good enough for the haters of all things Obama.

[mkultra]

30. Your post has a fact in it but no smears

therefore it will not be well received by the so called "left" here at DU.

[joeycola]

35. Can you provide a link please. Thanks.

[hileeopnyn8d]

47. Umm

It's from whitehouse.gov under press briefings.

[CTLawGuy]

31. How many times does Obama have to say he favors the public option?

Sorry, you have zero credibility. Just another in long line of attacks on our president from you.

[joeycola]

33. He needs to say the words himself!!

[CTLawGuy]

36. he did

in a joint session of Congress no less.

[joeycola]

37. no, he was wishy washy about it.

[CTLawGuy]

40. don't think so

I'll give you that he didn't box himself into vetoing a bill without a PO, but he was clearly in favor of it.

[mariawr]

53. He did. Kick the 'chattering class' to the curb. nt

[Better Believe It]

55. What kind of public option does President Obama favor? You don't know the answer to that!

And if you think you do, provide some credible links please rather than crude conservative DLC political spin.

Can you do that?

[Baltoman991]

57. You of all

people shouldn't be demanding a damn thing from anyone.

Who the hell are you to tell someone what they do and don't know? You, the person who comes here daily spewing bullshit as fact without an iota of proof to back it up.

BTW, is this the new message now? "What kind of public option does Obama favore?" Because this is the third or fourth time I've seen it asked here today.

Ya'll got together and came up with a new talking point I suppose.

[Phx_Dem]

48. John Aravosis hasn't stopped whining since January. Fuck him.

[IndianaGreen]

49. January? What happened in January? Oh, I remember, it was Rick Warren

[Phx_Dem]

58. I'm being generous, though I don't know why. Aravosis actually started

his incessant whine after the election, about who Obama would or would not choose for his cabinet.

AmericaBlog used to be the first site I visited everday. And then the endless, usually inaccurate and annoying whiiiiinnnnnne started and never let up. I haven't been there in months and I'll never go back.

[mariawr]

51. IT'S FROM JAKE TAPPER.....

who is an rw enabler, in the bag for the rethugs.

I would not give him the time of day, he parrots Fox talking points and we all know

FOX NEWS LIES.

[Cha]

59. jake tapper and john aravosis stink to

high hell.

[vaberella]

60. I wish I could "unrec" this thread over and over again. n/t