LETTER TO OBAMA: Did you TRY to get the Senate votes for public option?

[yurbud]

President Obama,

I was disappointed when you did not include the public option in your health care reform proposal and more disappointed when you said the public option does not have the votes to pass in the Senate.

Since the bill is going to be passed using reconciliation, that means the public option lacks DEMOCRATIC votes.

Did you even try to pressure, persuade, or even ask the Blue Dogs and DLCers who oppose the public option to change their minds since the public option will save more money and is more popular with the public than their plan?

Don't you have more leverage to move members of your own party of which you are the head than the Republicans you spent a year fruitlessly courting?

It would be easier to accept a deeply flawed bill if I had seen you pushing the more corrupt members of your party to make this stronger instead of praising moral filth like Joe Lieberman and Max Baucus. Compromise is acceptable is you drove a hard bargain, but you drove no bargain at all. You let the corporate owned Democrats write a bill that has little daylight between it and Massachusetts Romneycare.

Why should people vote for Democrats if they are going to simply enact Republican policies and ask for Republicans advice and consent before doing anything--even when Democrats had a supermajority in the Senate and could have acted without them?

If a strong public option is not in the final bill, our government will look hopelessly corrupt to the rest of the developed world, and the progressives who voted for you will feel like patsies and fools and wonder why they should bother to work for your campaign in the future, donate money, or even get out of bed to vote for you.

You can still be a great president, but only by breaking with the corrupt wing of the Democratic Party and standing with progressives and the American people.

It's not too late.

[pundaint]

1. Nicely written. It's sweet that you still think Obama isn't getting what he intended all along.

He started the process by selling us out to Hospitals and PhRMA, and then he took single payer off the table. Then he started talking to the other side. Think "what would happen if the Republicans elected Dennis Kucinich." O.K. now reverse it.

[DisgustedInMN]

4. Agreed.

ObaRahmCo sold us out immediately. The only chance we ever had of getting significant HCR with OUR best interests primary, are about the same as the incumbent Dems running this November. Only difference being, those assholes deserve what they're gonna get.

[gadjitfreek]

7. And it's such quackery

to call this a "government takeover of health care" and "socialism". The current bill finishes the job of corporate takeover of health care, guaranteeing that a corporate robot will get between you and your doctor.

[yurbud]

20. yep--but we have to let him know that we know

[truedelphi]

24. Why? So he and Rahm can laugh their silly mugs off at

Us Progressive "Retards"?

[flyarm]

37. + 1 million!! It was Obama who sold us out to start with! With his secret meetings! eom

[Radical Activist]

2. He did include a public option in his plan and pushed it for months.

It was taken out. It's unfair and untrue to suggest it was never in or that he never pushed for it.

Have YOU pressured Senate Democrats to include it? That's your job too, you know.

[readmoreoften]

3. Ah yes, the Radical "Blue Dog" Activist is Back!

:crazy:

[Radical Activist]

29. I guess meaningless name calling is easier for you than an actual response n/t

[HillbillyBob]

5. YES

nt

[ThomCat]

6. No, he talked about it for months. That's not the same as pushing it.

We have seen over and over again that he can talk a good speech, and then fail to exert any effort when it comes time to actually deliver the effort. What he says to the media and the public just does not match the work that really comes out of the Oval Office. :(

[Radical Activist]

27. heh. So you think he should literally push with his arms?

Should he just kick the walls of the Capitol building? What sort of non-verbal effort is he supposed to make? There have been plenty of report of Obama matching his endless media appearances with hands-on pressure on Congress. Those are the tools a President has.

[ThomCat]

34. No, he should use the Bully Pulpit and push in the same way

he pushed the other legislative efforts that actually changed votes. He has shown that he can change votes when he wants to. He just didn't want to change votes in this case. He didn't want to threaten to withdraw party support, or endorsements. He didn't want to play hard-ball to get this passed.

Your post "literally push with his arms" shows that either you have no idea what they do, or else you don't take this seriously.

[DrDan]

8. "pushed it"??????????? . . . . . hahahahhahahahhaha

[ima_sinnic]

10. agree--my lips are chapped, don't make me laugh

he didn't "push" sh*t when it came to the PO.
he didn't say jack when Max Baucus had doctors and nurses arrested for trying to get a seat at the phony "table" "promised" by Obama.
he didn't do squat when teabaggers took over and distorted the message all summer and made it about "socialized medicine." In fact, that was quite convenient, wasn't it? It helped to confuse the average voter and distract and dilute any effort on behalf of a public option, let alone single payer (which was like a dirty curse word no one was allowed to say).

but the message disciplinarians will continue to push the phony meme that poor widdle Obama was so weak and powerless (only the f**king president of the goddam US of A), so thwarted by obstructionists--he worked soooo hard for a public option--and that the "votes weren't there." OF COURSE THEY WEREN'T THERE! they weren't supposed to be. that would go against the deal made with pharma and big medicine, who are the ONLY ones benefiting from the current "reform" BULLSHIT.

Thank god I'll be eligible for Medicare in another year and won't have staggering mandated bills to pay for some worthless "health insurance."

[DrDan]

14. the really sad part is that 3 in 4 Americans want a PO

how much more leverage did he need - he had the WHOLE country behind it - the GOP would have been toast to have voted against it

[Radical Activist]

25. I don't think you're living in the real world.

Because in my world I saw Obama give three speeches to Congress and countless media appearances pushing for health care, including the public option.

[ThomCat]

36. Giving speeches is not the same thing as putting pressure on

politicians to get something passed. Can't you tell the difference?

Speeches are PR. They are spin written by speechwriters.

Pressure to get something passed will include pressure of some kind. Was there ever any coercion of any kind, threats to withdraw party funding in future election campaigns, or threats that Obama would not endorse them for Reelection, or would endorse an opponent in a primary against them? Was there a threat that Obama would help draw big money donors away from them?

If there was ever even a HINT of pressure for votes, then we would have known that Obama was seriously campaigning for this.

All we saw were pretty speeches, and it seems some of us can tell the difference between organized public relations efforts and actual political efforts. :eyes:

[Fruittree]

44. I thought we all voted for Obama because of who he is

I, for one, never thought he was one to throw public temper tantrums...I thought he had a conciliatory nature...I thought he would bring facts and information to every argument and that's precisely what he's done. I don't want coercion, threats or more dysfunction in the government than there already is. I want precisely what he's modelling which is adults getting down to work, looking at what benefits the American people, discussing the best way to get things done then passing legislation. What I see is him and some others doing precisely this then being blocked by people who behave exactly as you seem to think he should behave. How does this make sense?

[flyarm]

38. speeches , speeches speeches..that is all he does..what were the secret deals he made?

with Big Pharma , the hospital conglomerates, and AHIP??????????

Let him give a speech where he tells the American people how he sold us out to the corporate whores..then I will listen again..until then..I am not interested another of his damn speeches!

[Fruittree]

43. I saw the same thing -

This blame Obama for everything is ridiculous. We're a big country of millions of people - how is one person supposed to fix everything for us? I saw him speak on behalf of a public option repeatedly. My assumption is that he's trying to pass what he thinks he can now so that it can be built on in the future - Most changes are a process and this is just the beginning of the process.

[ThomCat]

35. Delete. Wrong place

[w4rma]

9. No. Obama told Rahm to make it happen, and Rahm made deals with big business that failed

and then came back with the excuse that the public option was the hold up, because Rahm doesn't want it in the first place.

[DrDan]

15. oh brother . . . so Obama was on the side of PO - but Rahm is to blame

man o man . . . .

[w4rma]

From what I can tell, Sen. Reid has been for a P.O. but has been given no help from Rahm. (nt)

[Radical Activist]

28. Obama got the public option passed in the House.

The Senate is the problem.

[flyarm]

39. the fuck he did! eom

[Enthusiast]

32. That depends on how you define "pushed". nt

[sabrina 1]

33. Obama, once he got to the WH, said from the beginning,

contradicting what he claimed during the campaign, that the PO was 'not that important'. That was a blow to those of us who supported him based on his stated position in the campaign.

He fooled a lot of people, me included. On the positive side, it was an excellent education about politicians in general. He is after all, just another politician.

We have to elect better representatives to Congress. In fact we have to take over Congress so that a president like this cannot get away with representing Big Corps against the interests of the American people. I really don't care from now on who is president, our problem in Congress. No president can get his way without the support of Congress. Right now, too many of them are as compromised by Big Business as he is. That's what has to change and the focus needs to be on Congressional races, not on the presidency which does nothing but distract people.

[pundaint]

41. I hire people to represent me in Congress. I have given them written and verbal instructions.

I have had my letters to the editor published in local press and surprisingly, in other states. I have written and called their leadership in the senate house and white house. I have signed petitions and contributed to advertising campaigns. I have even voted for a Republican for the first time in my life. But they do not care about my low dollar pressure, and they've decided they wont work for me. I must fire them. How are your reps working for you?

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. Ummmm......

That's far nicer than what I'd like to say. The Obama administration IMHO represents a lost opportunity and I am more than ready to wash my hands of them and see them return to the private sector. I want a progressive president that has some intestional fortitude and the political and leadership skills to bring about meaningful change. Obama falls short on all counts.

[Demeter]

12. Except for the Fact that Neither Obama Nor Pahm Came from the Private Sector

I'm more than willing to throw them both on its tender mercies...

[The Hope Mobile]

13. Actually, Rahm just came from making millions in the private sector nt

[Demeter]

17. That's NOT the Private Sector, that's the Privileged Club

[IndianaGreen]

16. What if Obama is part of the 'corrupt wing of the Democratic Party?'

Obama's behaviour during the HCR process wouldn't seem so bizarre if one were to see it from the point of view of someone trying to protect the interests of the health industry while presenting a public persona of siding with the public's interest.

[Demeter]

19. I think He Must Be

Taking that Nobel while shipping cannon fodder off to Afghanistan is pretty conclusive proof of it. Either he was corrupt to begin with, which is why he was green-lighted into the White House, or bribed or blackmailed shortly thereafter.

In any event, the result is the same. We the People are screwed by a "Constitutional Scholar" who has done nothing to restore the rule of law upon which Democracy is based.

[yurbud]

21. it's a letter to him, so I was trying to be a little diplomatic, but your point is obviously true

[DrDan]

22. you are correct

[Enthusiast]

31. That is the only reasonable

explanation I can come up with.

[Daveparts still]

18. What Obama Says

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

[bertman]

23. Thanks, yurbud. Great letter. Rec.

[lsewpershad]

26. Yes Mr President

Did you PUSH?

[Enthusiast]

30. I must agree with your post.

IMHO, unfortunately I think President Obama well understands the nature of our complaints already, I just don't think he cares.

[yurbud]

40. I've considered a more charitable explanation: he can't entice or cajole someone out of

a fat payday from the insurance companies.

What can he do to a corrupt pol, not campaign for their re-election? If they lose, they simply become a lobbyist that much sooner.

The best thing we can do is root out the Blue Dogs and DLCers by supporting their primary challengers, and only giving money to specific candidates NOT the DNC, DSCC, or DCCC since they could give our money to corporate Democrats.

[Enthusiast]

42. I've considered your explanation

for some time now. If Obama would have fought hard for the public option I would be inclined to agree with you.

You are right. I will give nothing to the DNC, DSCC, or DCCC, only to the individual deserving candidate.