General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "But we couldn't *possibly* have gotten single payer!" [View all]cui bono
(19,926 posts)sound reasonable and work as sound bites - I'm thinking of how they come with names for bills. They know how to message things to get people to react emotionally. There was a book about this but I can't think of the title or author...
So their base gets excited, they get their base excited.
Dems give their bills complicated names. They don't message well. The leaders are the ones who are supposed to be working for the people, they should be leading. If the Dems could get it together and not be so weak maybe they could rally the people. If they went out and spoke about things and informed the public maybe the public would get more involved and tell their reps how they want them to vote, what they want them to accomplish. If they don't have a clue what's going on they don't know what to demand.
As to single-payer, we might have ended up with the public option if the Dem leaders had demanded single-payer from the beginning. Well, they should have demanded medicare for all actually. But no, Obama doesn't know how to negotiate so he never asks for more than what he will settle for. Seriously, he didn't allow single-payer a seat at the table, had secret back room deals with insurance companies, ignored the public option and Emanuel told the left to STFU. Do you think the people could have turned that around? Seems to me Obama was working for exactly what he ended up with. That's not good. He should have been working for more than that, by more I mean something that was better for the people.
It's not the people's job to make a politician make good on their campaign promises. It's not the people's job to oversee those who they elect to do their bidding. Should we be involved? Of course, but I feel that you are giving the politicians a pass and blaming the people. I don't think that's correct.
We voted for change. We got very little of it. Some of it in the wrong direction.
Manny sschmanny. It's not about him.