President Obama: "I Didn't Campaign on the Public Option."

[spiritual_gunfighter]

President Obama: "I Didn't Campaign on the Public Option."
by TomP
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Tue Dec 22, 2009 at 01:45:39 PM PST

This statement surprised me. You be the judge.

Obama said the public option "has become a source of ideological contention between the left and right." But, he added, "I didn't campaign on the public option."

Obama rejects criticism on health-care reform legislation

Lots of links below the fold that appear to create a contradiction between the statement above and the actual facts.

In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that "any American will have the opportunity to enroll in new public plan." <2008>

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges "needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market." <6/15/09>

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that "any plan" he signs "must include...a public option." <7/17/09>

– During a conference call with progressive bloggers, the President said he continues "to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go." <7/20/09>

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option "should be a part of this ," while rebuking claims that the plan was "dead." <9/20/09>

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818090/-President-Obama:-I-Didnt-Campaign-on-the-Public-Option.-

[daa]

1. He is a corporate dem liar and that is why I was for Hillary nt

[NYC_SKP]

3. That's the single funniest reply I've read since, oh, March or so.

:rofl:

[daa]

11. Write back if you are still laughing in 2010 and 2012 nt

[Cant trust em]

4. He is a corporate dem liar and that is why I was for a corporate dem liar. nt

[GodDamLiberal]

21. Did one of those bullets

at that airport where the Queen of the DLC landed "under fire" hit you in the head?

[rateyes]

2. It's amazing how politicians conveniently forget the truth.

For him to say he didn't campaign on that promise now, IMO, makes Obama a liar.

Yes.he.did.

[avaistheone1]

5. He "forgets" what he says.

How convenient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE

[rudy23]

8. He wants to be Bill Clinton. Someone needs to tell him he'll have to make the internets go away.

But I'm not worried, I'm sure he's on that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. He also said this:

"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family."
He said that July 2009.
Link to proof:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/obama-demands-the-bill-i-sign-must-include-public-option.php

[LibDemAlways]

6. This is right up there with the chimp standing in front of the

Mission Accomplished banner on the list of inane Presidential pronouncements. What a load of crap.

[EVDebs]

7. "Take the lobbyist money and run" ! nt

[Thickasabrick]

10. Cheney/Rove/Goebbels playbook....."tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it"..

This is so fucking sad.

[newlib]

12. is the fool saying that because he didn't campaign on it, then

that means he doesn't support a public option?

[Tutankhamun]

13. "I didn't campaign as a Democrat," said the president.

"You're imagining things. Lay off the hallucinogenic drugs."

[timeforpeace]

14. Stop the Bush/Cheney/etc comparisons. He's well on his way to surpassing them. He's #1!

[Donnachaidh]

15. I'll give him this -- he has quite the set of CAJONES to be saying this now

Feeling proud of himself?

[bajamary]

16. NYT May 29, 2007

New York Times, May 29, 2007, Obama Offers Health Care Plan

IOWA CITY, Iowa, May 29 — Senator Barack Obama proposed a major overhaul of the nation’s health care system today, aimed at covering the nearly 45 million uninsured Americans, reducing premium costs for everyone else, and breaking what he asserted was "the stranglehold" that the biggest drug and insurance companies have on the health care market.

Mr. Obama would create a new public plan open to individuals who cannot get group coverage through work or the existing government programs, like Medicaid or the State Childrens Health Insurance Program. He would also create a National Health Insurance Exchange, a regulated marketplace of competing private health plans that would aim at "reforming" the private insurance market and giving individuals other, more affordable options for coverage.

[bajamary]

17. Obama Repeatedly Touted Public Option

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/22/obama-repeatedly-touted-public/

FLASHBACK: Obama Repeatedly Touted Public Option Before Refusing To Push For It In The Final Hours
In recent days, there has been an uproar in the progressive community over the Senate’s decision to drop the public option from its health care bill in order to reach the crucial 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Given that many liberals backed a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system, the public option was seen as a political compromise.

“I didn’t campaign on the public option,” President Obama told the Washington Post. But he touted the public option on his campaign website and spoke frequently in support of it during the first year of his presidency, citing its essential value in holding the private insurance industry accountable and providing competition:

– In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that “any American will have the opportunity to enroll in new public plan.” <2008>

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges “needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market.” <6/15/09>

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that “any plan” he signs “must include…a public option.” <7/17/09>

– During a conference call with progressive bloggers, the President said he continues “to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go.” <7/20/09>

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option “should be a part of this ,” while rebuking claims that the plan was “dead.” <9/20/09>

Despite all this overt advocacy for the public option, it appears that Obama was reticent to apply the political pressure necessary to get the plan in the final hours of congressional negotiation. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — who threatened to filibuster the creation of any new public plan or expansion of Medicare — told the Huffington Post that he “didn’t really have direct input from the White House” on the public option and was never specifically asked to support it.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), one of the most ardent backers of public insurance, blamed the demise of the public option on a “lack of support from the administration.” Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) — perhaps the most visible defender of the public option in the entire health care debate — went even further, saying that Obama’s lack of support for congressional progressives amounted to him being “half-pregnant” with the health insurance and drug industries.

[Smashcut]

18. Obama: "I didn't campaign on 'change.'"

[IndianaGreen]

20. He never campaigned on 'Change You Can Believe In'

it was only a campaign slogan.

We believed what we wanted to believe.

Bitter :sarcasm:

[Mojambo]

19. What a fucking crock of bullshit. n/t

[ChangoLoa]

22. Aren't Americans capable of demonstrating massively?

People create the "left" and "right" barycenter.

[neverforget]

23. I may still support Obama but my enthusiasm for him is diminishing by

the day.

[janedum]

24. Obama's a liar and a hypocrite. He didn't keep his word. PUBLIC OPTION!!

[TankerKC]

25. Get used to it...

...this is just the beginning of broken promises. Can anyone say GITMO? Next!

[JohnWxy]

26. without the PO there is no real Health Care Reform! Also, he handed it over to the Congress to

hammer out the bill. Well, let them do that. The House which more accurately represents the people much more than the Senate put the Public Option in there. They SHOULD NOT bow to the less representative Senate on this. The House holds sway on this.

[Jakes Progress]

27. Cinch up the flight suit.

"Healthcare Reform Accomplished"