What Options Did Obama Leave On The Table In Health Care Fight?

[laughingliberal]

Since you asked, "What exactly should they be doing?" here is the list of what it would have looked like if Obama was willing to exert leverage and actually fight.

-- Threaten to veto any bill without public option.

-- Barnstorm Connecticut before Lieberman dug in his heels (Connecticut, where Obama campaigned for Lieberman in 2006, and where voters want the public option by 3 to 1).

-- Barnstorm across Maine (where voters want the public option 2 to 1, Independents 3 to 1, and where only 24% of voters like Snowe's trigger). Instead, Emanuel met behind-closed-doors with a senator out of touch with her own constituents and tried to cut a deal for a trigger nobody wants.

-- Publicly leak that Obama is furious that he went to bat for Lieberman's chairmanship, and Lieberman is threatening to filibuster reform.

-- Publicly leaking that reconciliation is on the table -- and will be used to push an even stronger public option if Senate Dems don't get in line. <snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/what-options-did-obama-le_n_394697.html

Those are the actions we kept looking for to assure us President Obama was on the side of reform. Didn't happen. Some will argue we wouldn't have gotten a better bill anyway. We'll never know. I'm of the opinion we would have gotten considerably more than this pony manure we have now. If nothing else he would have shown himself as a leader who considered the American people worth spending a little political capital on. And it would have earned him some respect even if it had not been a rousing success. Now, he gets to sign a pile of pony shit and claim we 'reformed' health care. He's lost our trust. The other guys aren't going to trust him no matter what he does. The insurance and pharmaceutical companies love him. So, he's left with little support from the progressive wing, no support from Republicans, probably some big campaign donations. Hope he thinks that was worth it.

[Hardrada]

1. And where is this freaking table anyway?

[laughingliberal]

2. The table was taken off the table nt

[Jamastiene]

7. Sad, but true. n/t

[notadmblnd]

4. The table was removed

it gets in the way of the mad dash for cash.

[Jamastiene]

8. That's sad but true too. n/t

[Ken Burch]

5. It was sold on ebay

"as is".

[laughingliberal]

10. Great! Let me guess, it was our table and they kept the proceeds? nt

[lapfog_1]

3. It's not so much that we have lost faith in Obama.

It's that he has lost faith in us.

He raised this huge war chest of funds by using the internet, connecting to the grass roots, and getting people to send him $25 a month or whatever they could afford. And he raised money by the bucket load.

But then he hooked up with Rahm. I'm pretty sure that method of raising money is anathema to Rahm. Rahm convinced him to go after corporate sponsorship and buy in. They were also a "stake holder" that had to be placated (which was not true in the campaign). So... Move On... fuck you. Democratic Underground... fuck you. FireDogLake... fuck you. Daily KOS, fuck you. Michael Moore... fuck you. We aren't "stakeholders" and we don't give out money by the millions in one go. Much easier to placate the corporations and make deals. Besides, the corporations didn't give Obama the time of day until it looked like he might actually win. Then they had to cover their bases. Couldn't be naked without an "in" to the White House. And Rahm was there, all too eager to give them a seat at the table.

And Obama lost faith in us. His advocates. OK, we aren't the entire base, we probably only make up 5% or 10% of his voting base. But we were the ones singing his praises on the blogs, writing letters to the editor, going to the local Democratic meetings, putting up signs and calling people, driving folks to the polls. And he lost faith in us.

[DrDan]

6. easy to place the blame on Rahm - one can somewhat preserve their faith in obama by doing so

place the blame . . . and the responsibility where it squarely belongs - BHO.

We were suckered in by eloquence. We bought it. We defended it. We were sucker-punched.

[GeorgeGist]

9. Obama is a coward ...