There's "sharp resistance" against the public option in the White House (Ezra Klein)

[ohiodemocratic]

For all that, I'd still bet against the public option. For one thing, there's sharp resistance to this idea in the White House. The administration has just spent weeks rebranding itself as a bipartisan outpost in a sea of bickering hacks. Resuscitating the most controversial element of the bill and running it through reconciliation looks less like reaching out and more like delivering a hard left cross to the opposition.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/is_the_public_option_making_a.html

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. F*&k reaching out. Put something behind that hard left cross!

Smack it down their ignorant throats!

[dkf]

2. Ha I knew it!

They WANT us to be forced to buy only private health insurance. How can we trust them on this topic now?

[hlthe2b]

3. I'm beginning to think Obama needs to be saved...

from himself (or at least his administration) :shrug:

[polichick]

4. Yep - seems like he puts his finger up and changes with the wind. nt

[asdjrocky]

47. All that work.

All that time on the phone, for what?

Kind of makes you feel duped.

[polichick]

48. Yeah, what a deal! I'm starting to wonder how much I could get...

...for the limited edition Shepard Fairey poster.

[asdjrocky]

49. Yeah, good luck with that., lol. nt

[polichick]

51. Maybe I can write it off as a bad investment like stock losses. nt

[asdjrocky]

52. At least in 2000 I knew my vote was stolen only a few days after the election.

This has taken over a year.

[LeftyAndProud60]

5. I made a thread saying a yr later and I'm still not sure if Obama supports a PO. Some tried to say

has made it clear already. This is proof he hasn't. Is he for or against it?


Rahm and Ax are scum. I know where they stand.

[saracat]

7. He has made it clear. He doesn't really support it. But he likes mandates!

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[saracat]

21. Touchy? Funny, when I post conclusive evidence to the contrary , it is just ignored

by some.Just like Sen. Dorgen noting that the WH pulled drug re importation. Some still insisted it wasn't true. If I buy what you are selling then we really have zero leadership in the WH because it is being trampled by the blue dogs, and the GOP.Whatever.

[vaberella]

32. Obama standing in front of news reporters and saying he supports the measure says otherwise.

And I've not seen an article where Dorgen has stated, that Obama pulled drug reimportation. As a matter of fact he stated that he hoped Obama would support such a measure since he did when he was a Senator.

[saracat]

55. I posted one from the WSJ. It was ignored.

[O is 44]

27. I'm with you Vabrella..... n/t

[ohiodemocratic]

31. How can a person say, "I didn't campaign on the P.O." and think it's necessary at the same time?

Those two statements are incompatible.

[vaberella]

35. Actually did you hear what he stated.

He never did campaign on the PO and he also stated that the PO became only point of discussion in reference to health care reform which basically helped in putting health care reform in coma.

He however, as a President state very clearly where he stood on the PO. He never made it a political promise, however he stated very clearly that if he was going to have meaningful health care reform, as a President, the PO should be included or some form of cost effective measure. He said PO was what he saw as the best bet...while others saw putting it in as a trigger to be another workable measure and you'll find many Dems on this site actually agree and prefer PO as a trigger.

In any case, he has, throughout the entire year this has been on the table the man has pushed a PO. YOu can't say he didn't. If you do, then I will say you are a straight up liar.

People can't tell me he wasn't pushing for it. In any every townhall event, throughout every single interview from ABC to MSNBC the man has stated or pushed a PO. And if you say otherwise, you are also lying because I watched each and everyone one of them. Even if in the conditions that he wants for health care reform he has stated he wants some measure to bring cost down---he believes the PO is he best way to do that. He has stated as such clearly...but he is open to other ideas.


He has also stated, over and over and over again and I fully agree...this discussion has been narrowed to the point of obliviousness by both the left and the right and this is why I hold both to blame for what's happened.

Not only in regards to the public officials but also the bloggers. The PO was the only point of topic. NO one discussed anything else about this bill making the bill worthless. This bill was not and has never been a PO bill. It was about many many many many different things in regards to health care and with or without the PO it would open the doors for health care to at least 31 million Americans.

That's without PO 31 million americans would still get health care. Yet, that was ignored and lambasted by the left and right. Again killing the topic of HEALTH CARE REFORM for only PO.

Yes the American people would love a PO. But many of them would like to make sure, because about 80% of them or so have health insurance, would like their costs to go down, things to run more effectively, assurance that their insurance wouldn't go out the window and extention of some benefits.

But did anyone care about that? No...the PO was the only thing. Conversation was stalled and killed over this one topic. Yet no one wants to take responsibility for that.

[ohiodemocratic]

39. Conversation was never stalled because of the P.O. The Senate Bill was on pace to be passed

The lack of a public option didn't stop the Senate Bill. It was only until Brown won Massachussets.
By the way, the Public option wasn't the only thing. Once the P.O. was dead, progressives cheered for the plan to extend Medicare to people 55+. but that died too, and it wasn't progressives' faults. Then progressives cheered for drug re-importation and both measures were killed, and the killers were not those on the left wing of the party.

[ohiodemocratic]

33. And I also remember reading article after article after article of him opposing a mandate

Until he didn't.

[asdjrocky]

54. Such a shame.

I really did support him. I swear, it's all in my journal.

I feel robbed.

[ProSense]

6. This is pure speculation

For all that, I'd still bet against the public option. For one thing, there's sharp resistance to this idea in the White House. The administration has just spent weeks rebranding itself as a bipartisan outpost in a sea of bickering hacks. Resuscitating the most controversial element of the bill and running it through reconciliation looks less like reaching out and more like delivering a hard left cross to the opposition.

The nature of reconciliation is to pass the bill without Republican support. In fact, it only requires 51 votes, meaning it could lose some Dems too. So if reconciliation is on the table, there is no bipartisanship. It's one or the other.

[Clio the Leo]

8. I love Ezra, but that's his speculation.....

... I'm gonna need a source .... even an anonymous one.

*MY* speculation has been that the very reason for all of this recent bipartisan bending over backwards is cover for the inevitable reconciliation push.

And if it's common knowledge that the President is opposed to the idea, NONE of the Senators signing the letter have mentioned it. NONE of them are admonishing him otherwise.

But I could be wrong. :)

I concede that the silence by the WH, and more importantly, Leader Reid is worrysome.

[coti]

9. Ezra hasn't done us any favors so far. nt

[Mojambo]

10. I love how the White House is always so hands off on this issue until the public option gets going.

Then suddenly they are in the mix!

The Administration needs to fuck off. Congress will write the legislation and then the White House can either sign it or veto it.

These democrats in congress need to do what they need to do. If the American people want a Public Option, and it sure looks like they do, then Congress needs to pass a bill with a public option to save their fucking jobs.

[ProSense]

11. Here is Sebelius' statement

which is obviously directed at Republicans:

Sebelius said the president's proposal is unlikely to include a government-run insurance plan that is anathema to most Republicans. The public option is part of the House-approved bill but was dropped from Senate legislation.

"A lot of the Republican members of the House and Senate said on day one when this debate began that they would love to work with the president, but they could not work around the public option. Now that (we) don't have a public option, I'm hoping they're good to their word and come to the summit not just with their ideas but with a proposal.

"There are a lot of good Republican ideas in both the House and Senate bills," she told Gupta. "I hope the Republicans come ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work."

Without a public option, Sebelius says insurers must be willing to accept tougher regulation, limits on what they can charge and the ability to turn away people who may be sick. A former health insurance commissioner in Kansas, Sebelius said she envisions a major role for state regulators, but, "If it's not going to happen at the state level, you need some minimum oversight at the federal level -- how much they spend on health care, and how much they spend on CEO salaries and advertising."

link

They're pushing this challenge hard to the Repubs, but everyone knows the Repubs are not going to cooperate.

[DrToast]

12. No Joe Lieberman to blame it on this time

[Enrique]

13. they're bucking the White House by doing this

assuming they're for real, they're bucking Obama by pushing for the public option by reconciliation.

[brewens]

14. How is something most Amercans favor (the public option) considered

the most controversial part of the HC debate? I guess I know how but it is BS!

[DrToast]

15. Because the Democrats made it the most controversial

Instead of insisting on it because it was one of the most popular elements, they killed it for some reason.

[vaberella]

17. When and how did they make it controversial? It was the Repubs that did that.

And it was the left that made it the only issue worth talking about. Rather than looking at the bill as a whole they looked at one element weakening the argument for health care reform all around. And that's because the were and of course did play into the hands of the right who knew what buttons to push to basically dismantle an entire broad working plan.

[DrToast]

45. They made it controversial by agreeing that it was controversial

Instead of fighting back by pointing out how popular it was.

[vaberella]

16. As the President has said. You're entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.

Where is Mr. Klein getting this?! His own damned opinion & basically calling the President a liar. President Obama has clearly shown where he stands on the PO. His position can be ignored, maligned, and marginalized by the left and the right all they want. However, I am testimony as someone who has watched EVERYTHING the President has done on this, since it's a topic directly affectng me, that Klein and your post is full of crap. But it's okay for those to believe in said crap.

[saracat]

22. Everything?Oh my! How long have you been active politcally?

Just observing this politician? Because things aren't merely about what is said.

[vaberella]

37. What are you talking about?! Your post makes no sense as a response to my statement. n/t

[saracat]

56. I am sorry you don't understand. It is perfectly clear.

[Joanne98]

19. &^%$#(*&

:argh:

[amborin]

20. whereas O is pushing for the excise tax on the middle class:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7732357

[Fire1]

23. Whatever it takes, Ezra! n/t

[ljm2002]

24. And it's about time the Congressional Democrats...

...delivered that punch! Who cares whether the White House wants it? The majority of the public wants it! So put a fat public option in the bill, pass it via reconciliation, make press announcements about how much money it will save, and let the President veto it if he really wants to.

[Arkana]

25. Sharp resistance? From where?

Does Klein have sources or is he talking out of his ass?

[Fire1]

28. He must be referring to the bluedog and puke opposition. n/t

[Arkana]

29. No, he said there was resistance from the White House.

I'd love to know where he's getting this or if he's dropping a "shock" line to get "progressives" all ginned up with fresh outrage.

[Fire1]

34. You're so right. I glazed right over the first sentence. In which

case, he's outright lying.

[vegiegals]

38. Obama/WH have always been weak on supporting a PO.

[Fire1]

41. Wrong. I recall in one of his speeches he distinctly said he

would not sign anything without a public option. SINCE that time, when it looked like everyfuckinbody in the senate was against it, he was talking exchanges and mandates as a form of compromise for the fuckin republicans and bluedog dems.

[vegiegals]

42. I recall that time (very brief time for Obama). He sways with whatever is up at the moment.

[Fire1]

43. You call it sway, I call it compromise. I'll spin it my way. n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

26. Nothing but speculation

Unrec'd :thumbsdown:

[DLnyc]

30. Congress writes the legislation, the President either signs it or vetoes it.

I very, very seriously doubt Obama would veto a good health bill just because it contains the public option. The only reason he soft-pedaled the public option, to my eye, is to try to get a bill together past Rethugnican (and industry) opposition. If Congress passes any kind of bill, with or without a public option, with or without thug votes, with or without reconciliation, what in hell would Obama gain by vetoing it? Doesn't make any sense to me that he would veto.

Congress, on the other hand, between the House and the Senate, may not be able to get a majority without the public option, and may have the majority with. Assuming they take it through reconciliation, which is reasonable since it is the public option that makes the bill affordable, a reasonable scenario is a bill with public option passes both House and Senate (but the Senate with well under 60 votes, via reconciliation route) and Obama says "Yay, we got a bill, I will sign it immediately!"

Doesn't really matter whether White House is rumored to be hot, cold or indifferent. If it passes Congress it will be signed and become law.

[DrToast]

44. Then why did Obama send a financial reform bill to Congress?

And why did he say that the Consumer Financial Protection Agency is a must?

By the way, I don't think he'd veto such a bill. It would never reach him if the White House had a deal with the insurance companies on the public option. Just like the drug re-importation amendment suddenly died.

[vegiegals]

36. I was wondering this morning if the WH would slap this down. I still

think they will not approve and Harry and the others will bow.

[janet118]

40. Republican view of bipartisanship . . .

"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape." -- Grover Norquist 2003

Get out the pepper spray, Democrats.

[asdjrocky]

46. I was willing to actually give them a chance.

I even called DiFi and Boxer. I even called Cardoza again.

How stupid could I be?

If there is no public option then it is absolutely black and white for me, they don't give a shit.

Prove to me that you care about the People Obama, come out NOW for a strong Public Option. Show me that this article is pure speculation, show me Ezra Klein is wrong.

[high density]

50. Says who? Ezra Klein's opinion?

Klein should leave the speculation to the MSM's favorite unnamed "White House sources" that are always full of shit.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

53. Obama likes the single payer option

[saracat]

57. Prove that. he wouldn't even allow it to be discussed and refused to meet with those who supported i

[asdjrocky]

58. The only thing I'm sure Obama likes is pie.

Have you been smoking Yes We Cannabis?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

59. Sometimes I think Obama doesn't want to be president. He really wants

to be a one-timer.