Maybe too many people who want the Public Option are not making themselves clear to our

[Mike 03]

leaders.

This is virtually too obvious to state, but my dad always told me, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." The twisted minority of US citizens who oppose a Public Option are making all the noise. They are the ones showing up at these Town Halls.

Are we doing enough? Are we saying enough in defense of the Public Option?

I know that I have given up, which is not a good thing. Between August and December I wrote to legislators every single day, but I have stopped doing it because I've lost faith, especially after what happened in Massachusetts.

But maybe we need to organize in some more substantial way, because there is not a doubt in my mind that more Americans favor the Public Option than oppose it.

In all of the hundreds of emails I wrote, both positive to legislators who were doing the right thing, and to oppose legislators who were trying to defeat HCR, I only received three responses, and they were just form letters.

I am simply at a loss to know what to do. It feels so futile.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. 10 million people with 10 million squeaky wheels on the Mall should do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI

[Mike 03]

5. Thank you for the reply! NT

[dflprincess]

2. How much more noise do we have to make?

People have been arrested making noise about this.

But the fact is, all those calls, emails and letters we've been doing can't outweigh the campaign "contributions" the insurers are making. We have been sold out because the Democrats think they can continue to screw us because they think we'll come back in 2010 and 2012 no matter what they do now.

[Mike 03]

4. Yeah, I hear what you are saying.

One of my fears is that even some people on our side are getting inundated by funds from Big Pharma or Insurance.

[Go2Peace]

6. The President already knows what we his base wants

It feels way too much like a game. I worked the phones for quite a while, but at this point it seems obvious. I mean it's been a year of this and he says the same thing over and over... I might do it, I am still open to it. Right. He just sounds like he is lying. Sorry, I am sick of the game playing. It's just too much.

[xchrom]

3. I have said as much -- though I don't stop EVER supporting

My causes.

But it's frustrating beyond words that he one thing that
that the left can turn people out into multiple city streets for
is war. Of we can turn em out into the many hundreds of thousands.

Medicare for all -- a True American revolution for the People?
Not so much.

And the Party that is SUPPOSED to be after just this sort of
justice isn't.

Impotence is never pretty -- always sad and sometimes
calamitous.

[Go2Peace]

8. This fight is **de-energizing** his base. Not because it is difficult. But because of the posturing

and games.

[FrenchieCat]

7. The House has passed a public Option.....

the only folks to convince on the matter are 50 senators, period.

[Go2Peace]

9. If the PO does not end up there, at this point it is the President's responsibility

I'm sorry, but I am weary of this. The President has really hurt the PO effort. If he came on for it hard at this point it would push it over. At this point "YES HE CAN", but he is not.

If it happens without him changing his approach it will have been *despite* him. He won't deserve credit for it.

[FrenchieCat]

10. You've only been here since June, so I don't know how weary you are.....

but those of us who understand the long range view of things
are doing just fine.

Like you said, this ain't no game; not even a blame game.
Nor are you the one who will determine who gets the credit for what.

You can't on the one hand assign blame, and if it turns out otherwise,
say that the one you assign blame to wouldn't derserve any credit.
or do you hear yourself?
Most likely not.

If you haven't called your senators today, I suggest you do so.

[Go2Peace]

14. I don't take DU as seriously as you do. It's not a ""credential"

nor is it a real "battleground". It is just a site where Democrats discuss and well, they vent frustration too.

I would be willing to bet I have been a Democrat and involved in elections longer than you have, unless you are in your 60s. You should not be so dismissive, you know nothing about the people you try and "call out".

[spiritual_gunfighter]

18. Yes because if you joined DU in June then that must mean

you have only been a liberal since June. It helps to step away from DU once and awhile and realize that this forum isn't the entire world.

[freddie mertz]

13. The president does not support us on this, and has not since August at the latest.

He casually promised it, promoted it, then dropped it, and figured we wouldn't care or notice.

His major domo, Rahm, actively opposes the policy, and has shown contempt for those of us who support it.

It's hard to win when the man you elected to lead us becomes the main obstacle to his own stated policies.

[backscatter712]

11. Have you called your senators and congresscritter yet? n/t

[freddie mertz]

12. The main obstacle seems to be the disinterest/opposition in the White House.

That is who I am e-mailing these days.

Obama is the one who ran on it, then dumped, then denied it, then failed to include it in his own new plan.

I am convinced that the president is the one who is not listening to us.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

15. If we want the public option, we need to make our voices heard...

www.whipcongress.com

Find out which senators have not signed on, call their offices, hold them accountable.

[kenny blankenship]

16. They know the PO is very popular with voters. But they won't pass it because their master said, No.

They certainly know how strongly the Democratic base feels about it.

All that could possibly be left to say is "We'll be working and donating for your opponents if you betray us"

[Orsino]

17. Not enough people care yet, for sure. n/t

[Kirbster]

19. The Public Option

...is the beginning of the end for private health insurers, and they know it. What employer or individual policy buyer would choose to pay higher premiums if a cheaper alternative exists? The Wellpoints and Aetnas and Humanas will fight this with everything they've got, no matter how much the public wants it.

[woolldog]

20. blaming the victim....

you sound like a repug