All In-Don't look now, but Obama is finally living up to his promise.

[babylonsister]

All In
Don't look now, but Obama is finally living up to his promise.
Jonathan Cohn

snip//

“Everything there is to say about health care has been said--and just about everybody has said it,” Obama said to laughter.

Still, if Obama on Wednesday was implicitly giving up on his hopes for constructive, bipartisan governing, he wasn't giving up on his hopes for what governing would achieve. He ran for president on a promise to tackle the nation's most challenging problems--and, since winning election, he’s gleefully defied those who warned him he was trying to do too much. On Wednesday, he made clear that he hasn't changed his mind about that:

At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem. The American people want to know if it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. They are waiting for us to act. They are waiting for us to lead. And as long as I hold this office, I intend to provide that leadership. I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it’s right.

That's not just bluster. At any point in the last few months but particularly in the wake of the Massachusetts election, it would have been easy to back away from comprehensive reform--to cut a deal, be done with it, and move on.

Instead, Obama on Wednesday committed himself more fully to comprehensive reform than he has at any time since this effort started--rejecting incremental reforms explicitly, refusing Republican calls to start over, and demanding an up-or-down vote on his proposal.

more...

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/all

[dkf]

1. Am I the only one who wishes he talked about jobs as much as hcr?

How can we blame public perception when it seems to be the only thing he cares about?

[TwilightGardener]

2. HCR is within reach. Creating millions of jobs in a shaky world economy--

getting employers to hire again when laying off is the thing to do...can't be fixed with a penstroke. That will take a while to turn around.

[sabrina 1]

45. He isn't talking about Healthcare Reform, he's talking about

Health Insurance Reform, saving the Insurance Industry. Unless something happened to the Senate Bill he's pushing since I last saw it, such as a strong Public Option? With no Republicans on board, as we all knew would be the case even if THEY had written the bill which they practically did but HIS name would be on it, there is simply no reason left not to get what he was elected to get, a bill that includes a choice for the people and begins the process of ridding this country of the corrupt and unnecessary 'Health Insurance' Industry which the American people can no longer afford to support.

What I would love to have seen from this president and thought I would, was his involvement early on, one year ago while the Dems still had the momentum to use, in the words of George Bush, their 'political capital' and jam through a real healthcare bill after giving the Republicans a chance to get on board.

But we now know that was never going to happen, sadly.

[babylonsister]

4. He wishes he could be talking about jobs, too. That's exactly

why we need to get HCR done and move on.

[dkf]

9. I'm sick of hcr.

I have no idea what is left to be said or argued about, just sleazy deal making to do. They threw the best part out. The rest of it is only half assed.

I've lost my faith in democrats to do what makes sense.

[babylonsister]

14. Too bad. As someone who will lose all health insurance in

May and someone who has a pre-existing condition, I'm anxious for it to pass.

Unselfishly, there are millions of people who are in the same boat who probably feel the same way.

[cilla4progress]

16. What about PO, though?

Aren't you disappointed? Do you really believe this HCR will make a difference, this year or next? Do you think changes (ie, PO) will actually happen? I was laid off in December and got an individual policy for my daughter and self, $300 mo. / $2500 deduct. Husband's employer-paid insurance too expensive. No dental coverage - of course, she now needs $1000 dental services (1st cavities ever - age 17). Will HCR do anything for me, for example?

[babylonsister]

17. Yes, I'm disappointed, but I'm not willing to scrub the whole

plan because we're not getting the PO. I will settle for what we can get now with hopes that that will be improved on. Dean and Sherrod Brown, as well as others I'm sure, will be working for that result down the road.

[dkf]

31. I guess anything will do when the situation is bad.

I'm at an age and health status where I'm a net payer so I'm more interested in good long term policy. Some can't afford to do that.

[dionysus]

22. as if we couldn't tell

[dkf]

44. Saw Mike Barnicle on morning Joe and he said exact same thing

The American public is tired of this debate. They are wondering where are the jobs.

I seem to be a bellwether for general sentiment.

[tridim]

11. HCR is a jobs program.

[Better Today]

26. How do you figure that?

[tridim]

29. Because people are currently being laid off due to sky-high insurance premiums.

The "wellness" focus will also create thousands of high-paying jobs.

Maybe a better way of saying it is that the current health care status quo is a massive jobs killer. Reform reverses that trend.

[girl gone mad]

47. This bill will do nothing to bring premiums down.

And people are not being laid off because of high premiums. Employers are simply shifting more of the costs onto employees. This bill will only encourage more of the same.

[NJmaverick]

3. People should give him credit

he is a man of principle and a leader that doesn't take the easy way out.

[depakid]

5. I've yet to see his administration go to the mat for principle

any principle.

Maybe they'll break the pattern with financial reform. We shall see.

[harun]

6. Agree.

[NJmaverick]

7. If one refuses to look, one misses quite a bit

[depakid]

10. Irony, irony

There's a big chance coming up to break the pattern- and with 6 and 7 figure bonuses still coming down the pipeline, there'll never be a better opportunity.

[NJmaverick]

12. sad

[depakid]

15. Agreed- it is sad

[NJmaverick]

18. You don't even understand what I consider sad, so how can you agree?

[Better Today]

25. Doing nothing for over a year, yeah, I'd sure like to see that pattern broken

and I'd like to see him put the burden on the rich assholes that created it, like he said he would, but of course that was just lip service as we are seeing now... no meaningful foreclosure reforms, no meaningful wallstreet reforms, no meaningful bank reforms. . . .the entire depression sitting on the plates of the poor and 95% who didn't cause it.

[depakid]

27. A financial transactions tax and a Tobin tax on currency exchanges would do just that

bringing in about $200 billion per year and creating an economic disincentive for excessive- and risky speculation and market manipulation.

Works for the British.

[Better Today]

34. The sad thing is there are dozens of ways to solve the problems we

average folks face right now, but what can one say, . . . he ain't who he proclaimed to be. . . not just Obama either, most of the Dem Congress isn't any better.

[NJmaverick]

30. Turning an economy from disaster to growing is doing nothing? On what planet?

[Better Today]

33. Growing economy for whom? Not the 95% he said

he was going to work for. He's not helping yet at all unless you're already in the top 5% who caused this mess in the first place,

[NJmaverick]

35. How quickly you "forget" the disaster our President was handed

when the banking industry was ready to collapse and the nation was on the verge of a epic depression. Now the job losses are turning around, manufacturing is up and the stock market is moving in the right direction.

[Better Today]

36. FORGET! Honey, I'm still living it, that's the point. It ain't getting better

for any average citizen. An epic depression that hit everyone including banks, insurers, EVERYONE would have been better than this off-balance crap we are going through now.

[saracat]

38. MY husband went to a temp agency yesterday and they told him it was "Hopeless" . Hopeless!

My city just put a tax on food and 505 of our police force has been laid off. Sound like things are turning around to you? Where the hell do you live?

[NJmaverick]

41. You have no idea what a depression would be like

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Clio the Leo]

8. exactly NT

[goclark]

20. NJ ~ why do you continue to make too much sense?

:fistbump:

[paulk]

13. "to cut a deal" ???????????????

He's been cutting deals since day one!

This watered down piece of crap doesn't qualify as "reform"!

If Obama was truly the "leader" Cohn fantasizes about, he would push for a public option, instead of throwing the ball in the Senate's court...

[Peacetrain]

19. Never a doubt... NT

:)

[Bluenorthwest]

21. He is not living up to his promise of no mandates and a strong

public option. He abandoned both of those vital promises long ago, left them as a love note to the GOP, to attract votes he fail to actually get.
So he's living up to something, but his promise is not what it is at all, more like the opposite of what he promised, what we voted for.
So the promises he made to voters are not being kept, perhaps the ones he made to Big Medicine are being kept.

[impik]

23. Of course. People don't understand that this man

is unlike anything we've seen in decades. He couldn't care less about the perks of the presidency. He doesn't need the presidency to be happy. He came to do big things and if he can't, he'll go home and the only ones who'll lose are the American people.

[Better Today]

24. So another speech is "living up to his promise" ???? You are one

easy person to satisfy if you believe that.

For me, I'll believe he has kept ONE of his promises IF and WHEN he signs a bill with a PO, and then I'll still be fully aware that one so many other issues, he's not only not kept his promises but screwed us all royally to date.

[babylonsister]

42. Write and call your congresscritters, because Obama isn't Merlin.

He can't just go 'poof' and make a PO happen without support, which by and large he hasn't gotten, at least not enough of it.

[bvar22]

28. NOW?...NOW he is going to STAND UP?

LOL

NOW?
After giving away all that can be given to the Republicans/Corporations?
NOW?

Everything he promised ????

*"The bill I sign MUST include a Public Option."

*When did he promise Individual Mandates?
Unfortunately, I am cursed with a memory.
I remember Obama ridiculing Hillary with a detailed analysis of WHY mandates were a terrible idea.

*Cadillac Tax?
I remember quite the opposite.
I distinctly remember that Obama said he would pay for HCR by raising taxes on the top 2%.
Here is a little memory refresher:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x420430


But NOW, Obama is going to STAND UP and DELIVER everything he promised.
.
.
I must be approaching the acceptance stage of grief over the betrayal of America's Working Class because I actually laughed at your OP.

Historical Revision is NOT the exclusive domain of the Republican Party,
but honestly, the revisionists should wait a while.
Its the decent thing to do.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[LatteLibertine]

32. Real HCR reform

will create jobs and lowering the costs will help prevent more folks from going bankrupt due to its cost in the future.

In addition, getting this done will lend more political force to President Obama and the Democrats. It will be a perceived as a big win. That will make other issues on their agenda easier to get done. It should also help ward off a return of Republican power.

Hopefully, we will see real financial sector reform.

[saracat]

37. Seriously? Your kidding right? Trashing teachers, union bashing,

bank bailouts and an empty HCR without a public option, and that is called living up to his promise? Oh brother. Proves that some will buy anything and anything can be spun.

[ProSense]

46. “We haven’t gotten everything we’ve wanted, but we sure get a hell of a lot of things from him”

Mr. Obama has certainly taken numerous actions that have pleased labor: pushing through the $787 billion stimulus plan, naming a union-friendly labor secretary and ruling against China in trade disputes involving tires and steel.

“He really does get it,” said the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s president, Richard L. Trumka. “He understands what working people are going through and he really does listen and we really have a seat at the table.”

“It’s totally unfair to say that the president hasn’t done this or done that,” Mr. Trumka added. “He’s tried on the stimulus bill. He faces tremendous Republican opposition. On health care, I give him the highest marks for tenacity.”

<...>

“We haven’t gotten everything we’ve wanted, but we sure get a hell of a lot of things from him,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

link

[yurbud]

39. rejecting incremental reforms? What's the Senate bill?

[Tailormyst]

40. I guess it all depends on what you think good reform is.

I'm not as impressed as you are (and I think it's okay to have different views) with much of anything he has done.

But I will be happy for those the HCR bill does actually help. I also liked his action on stem cells.