Obama's media blitz: The public option absolutely is not dead

[kpete]

Source: The Hill


Obama's media blitz: The public option absolutely is not dead
By Michael O'Brien - 09/20/09 10:21 AM ET

The public option has not been taken off the table in the nation's healthcare debate, President Barack Obama flatly declared Sunday.

Obama, appearing on the Spanish-language Univision's "Al Punto" program on Sunday, rejected the idea that he had abandoned the public (or "government-run") option for which he'd expressed much previous support.

"I absolutely do not believe that it's dead," Obama told Univision. "I think that it's something that we can still include as part of a comprehensive reform effort."

That defense may mark one of the most significant reactions Obama has had to date to the health bill unveiled by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) this week, which eschews the public option in favor of nonprofit healthcare cooperatives.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/59495-obama-the-public-option-absolutely-isnt-dead

[Old and In the Way]

1. Suck it Max.

Oh well, collect your $2MM and do not pass GO.

[Demeter]

2. We'll See

Obama blows hot and cold, turning in the wind towards whichever overwhelming blast hit him last.

Perhaps he's finally getting the message that he's made too many mistakes in the first 6 months--months when he should have been making changes to piss off the powerful, and instead didn't make changes, and so pissed off the People, especially his base.

Maybe he's decided he really wants to be President.

We'll see. I am not holding my breath on it.

[Iowa]

4. +1

[mopinko]

5. obama has never wavered. it has been rumors in the press that flap in the

breeze. he has never, ever said anything but that he wants a public option. he has refused to let the media back him into the corner, and get him to diss the negotiation process that has been going on. but it has been nothing but a bunch of innuendo that he has ever though twice about it.

[Winterblues]

14. You are wrong

I heard him myself say that the Public Option was ONLY a Small part of what they were trying to do and not really that important..As long as something could be put into place that would bring down costs..Something could be done to bring down costs but to keep them down is an entirely different matter. Some mechanism has to be in place to give the people a choice. Without a choice the Insurance Industry can and will do what ever they want to do. They m,ay wait until Obama is gone but they will raise costs. It is what they do. They are in the business of making money on people's misery..

[mopinko]

15. no, you are wrong.

he may have pointed out that there was more to the debate than whether or not there was a public option, but that does not mean that he backed of his insistence that the bill he signed must have some mechanism a government run policy. he made a comment about being about to vote for something that could walk like a duck, talk like a duck, but that the only thing he knew of that could do that was a duck.

yes, he has refused to "draw a line in the sand." he is a smart fellow that way, and has sidestepped many attempts to get him to do so. but he has never, ever made a statement that he was willing to give up on a government run option. people have put the words in his mouth many times. it is propaganda, pure and simple.
so, why do so many here fall for it, i wonder.

[bertman]

3. Oh yes, the FIVE PERCENT PUBLIC OPTION. Wow, what a relief. You really slapped that one

out of the park, Mr. President.

[Mithreal]

6. This is weak messaging.

"I absolutely do not believe that it's dead,"

The listener hears the words believe and dead.

What does it matter, right?

[Mosaic]

7. Obama has dissappointed me before

I fear he has not finished disappointing me. I do hope for a miracle though.

[grahamhgreen]

8. C'mon Mr. President - YOU CAN SAY "MUST INCLUDE THE PUBLIC OPTION"! Please! Still hoping.

[Enthusiast]

9. It had better include the Public Option.

:nuke:

[earth mom]

10. Hell will freeze over before the people get Universal/Single Payer. nt

[Suji to Seoul]

12. As long as the Freeper idiot get air time and are dressed up as "the mainstream"

you know, the crying "I want my country back," teabagging (chortle), birther, deather crowd. . .and as long as our media portrays them as the logic, honest America middle mainstream, you are correct.

I weep that our country has gotten this fucking stupid.

[earth mom]

16. What bugs me is that so many here on DU are distracted 24/7 by the teabaggers on tv.

What everyone should do is:

Ignore the media and ignore the teabagger/freepers.

Don't let them or the media control the message.

To allow them that kind of control is stupid, crazy and counter productive.

[eridani]

11. True, but it is too little and too late

Not universally available, and not until after 2013. This could really kill Dems for the next two election cycles.

[xchrom]

13. it may not be dead -- but it's on life support --

and it's gonna have severe limitations.