If Public Option Isn't Dead, Why Is Axelrod Referring to Its "Spirit"?
By Brian Beutler
September 2, 2009
The Obama administration is sending out its strongest signs yet that it's willing to scrap a public option in order to move a health care bill forward. White House adviser David Axelrod tells ABC News that what remains of Obama's desire for a public option is largely theoretical. "The spirit that led him to support a public option is still very much at play here and so you know he wants competition. He wants choice."
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/if-public-option-isnt-dead-why-is-axelrod-referring-to-its-spirit.php--------------------------
Under fire, President Obama shifts strategy
By MIKE ALLEN & JIM VANDEHEI
September 3, 2009
“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”
Top officials privately concede the past six weeks have taken their toll on Obama's popularity. But the officials also see the new diminished expectations as an opportunity to prove their critics wrong by signing a health care law, showing progress in Afghanistan, and using this month's anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers to push for a crackdown on Wall Street.
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.
“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26672.html---------------------------------
Obama won't push for public option
by John Aravosis
September 2, 2009
Considering it was the falling out with the liberal base that was the precursor to the public at large talking about whether the president has the backbone for the job, it's not entirely clear how picking a larger fight with that base is somehow going to resuscitate Obama's sinking poll numbers, and damaged brand:
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.
The goal of health care reform is supposed to be to pass a good bill, not to lift Obama's numbers for the next election. The very fact that people in the White House see public anger at Obama's broken promises as an "opportunity" is a large part of the problem. It's also a large part of the reason a lot of people are wondering whether Barack Obama is any different than any other politician who promised one thing then did what was politically expedient.
It's simply amazing that the strategy of trashing the base has now plunged Obama to 49% in the polls, reinvigorated a near-dead Republican party, split the once-unified Democratic party, and put the President's number one policy agenda in peril, and yet some in the White House think it's worked so well, they need to ramp it up some more. They don't seem to realize that the debate isn't over some arcane provision of legislation, it's over whether the President has the character needed to lead our country. Every time Team Obama has picked a fight with the left, they've lost, and the public perception of the president's character has suffered as a result. Americans don't respect someone who betrays their friends.
If the President thinks trashing the very people who got him into office is going to save his presidency, it's going to be a very ugly next couple of months, and a rather ugly four years for the Democratic party.
http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/obama-wont-push-for-public-option.html----------------------------------
White House Admits the Public Option is Gone, Will Sistah Soulja the Left
By: Jane Hamsher
September 2, 2009
The White House cuts the public option loose in a trial balloon in Politico:
The White House is making the calculation that the hit they suffer when they drop the public plan is only with the "far left," that they can survive that and actually use it to their advantage by triangulating against "the blogs."
It's just a guess, but when average Americans understand that "health care reform" means they will be forced to pay Blue Cross more money than they do now for worse insurance or be fined 2.5% of their income, I have a feeling it's not just going to be a couple of radical lefties who are pissed off about what amounts to an increase in middle class taxes.
For us, the question becomes: what are we going to do? How much do we care, how hard are we going to push Democrats in the House, elected by solid Democratic majorities, to stand up to this railroading and defend the public option?
There are 55 members in D+10 districts who have not said that they will vote against any bill that does not have a strong public option. For me, sitting by and watching them help to bailout PhRMA and the insurance industry on the backs of the middle class, just when people are struggling to find decent jobs in the midst of a recession, is not an option.
We'll be looking into the campaign finance histories of these members, as well as their voting records, to try and ascertain if there are reasons they are not signing on that the public should know about.
http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/02/white-house-admits-the-public-option-is-gone-will-sistah-soulja-the-left/---------------------------------
George's Bottom Line
Reporting and analysis from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent and "This Week" Host George Stephanopoulos
Septemb 2, 2009
White House officials are signaling publicly that they’re ready to take charge of the health care debate while strategizing privately (including a meeting with the president yesterday afternoon) about how to do it.
Here are the five key sets of questions they have to confront, both in the Roosevelt Room and in their consultations with Congress:
1 – What is “death with dignity” for the public option? Is it better for the president to sacrifice it himself? Or convince Democratic leaders behind closed doors to come to him? Some will argue for taking the public option issue to the floor, passing it through the House and sacrificing it in conference - but once you’ve gone that far, it may be impossible for House Democrats to back down. So, giving it up on the front end in some fashion is likely the preferred option.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/09/the-5-key-strategy-questions-the-white-house-is-considering-on-health-care.html
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