Could It Be That The WH Wants The Base To Raise Up?.....

[global1]

Just thinking that the uprising of the base due to the lack of a public option in this bill - gives the WH the ability to re-add the public option back into the bill in conference committee and say they are doing this because it is very clear that this is what the American people want. Even though the WH cut a deal with big pharma and perhaps big insurance - both pharma and insurance as well as the Repugs that have just done everything to subvert this legislation - would really, really look bad in the eyes of the public (more so than they do now) if after the WH comes out with a new conferenced bill with the public option in it and says they are doing it at the will of the American people.

I know they could have done it from the start - but in the 11th hour - as this is getting on this legislation - wouldn't this give the WH cover to back off of their deals? And if big pharma, big insurance - pull any semblance of support that they may have had to this time - they really look like the evil bad guys.

The other possibility is that if the bill goes down - the WH can blame it on the progressives and liberals that at the 11th hour pulled their support for this bill - even though the WH felt that it had many, many positives - even without the Public Option.

I need some sort of explanation as to why the WH appears not to be listening to the base.

[AllentownJake]

1. No they are making silly mistakes because they are under siege

and they never thought this debate would be going so long.

[levander]

2. It's not a chess game...

Looking at how silly this whole debate in Washington over health care has become, I've thought it was a chess game too. It was clear to me this summer they were going to have to drop the public option due to public opinion polls. But, then they started fighting for it again. I don't buy the argument that Obama didn't fight for the public option hard enough at all. It's been a huge controversy for months now. Conservatives absolutely fear the public option, but Obama did everything he could to get it in anyway. Remember this summer when Obama said the public option wasn't absolutely necessary to get a good bill in? I thought for sure the public option was dead then.

I've just given up on the idea that some kind of chess game is going on. Every move has generated way too much angst. People in Washington are genuinely fighting for what they really want and have expended mucho political capitalo trying to get it.

Maybe if the fight weren't so fierce they could just get some common sense reforms in.

[Vincardog]

8. Maybe if the fight weren't so fierce they could just get some common sense reforms in. That is funny

The people getting result are all on the RIGHT.
When the left finally stands up and says "ENOUGH"
suddenly it is time to quit pushing for your side?

[levander]

16. Another partisan bickerer...

Man, it's not about libtard or repug. It's about common sense. That quote of mine you jump all over, I was trying to refer back to what Howard Dean said about this whole mess:

In Washington, when major bills near final passage, an inside-the-Beltway mentality takes hold. Any bill becomes a victory. Clear thinking is thrown out the window for political calculus. In the heat of battle, decisions are being made that set an irreversible course for how future health reform is done. The result is legislation that has been crafted to get votes, not to reform health care.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/16/AR2009121601906_pf.html">Click

Stop the madness! Kill the bill! Start over!

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. Depends on who you mean by "the White House"

If you want to believe that Candidate Obama meant what he said, then that's a possibility.

But the White House chief of staff is a corporatist little prick who HATES the base of the Democratic party, and especially hates Howard Dean. And every time you see the words "White House official" without a name specifically mentioned, we all know damn well who the media whores are quoting.

[Laelth]

4. Theory: He wants to be liked, so he has to be seen as pissing off the left.

Theory further expounded here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7264738

It's Clintonian triangulation all over again, and for the same reasons, if this theory is correct.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

5. I've heard this theory before, but the progressives ARE raising up.

We were shut out of the process, remember?

In the very beginning, we were shut down...

[valerief]

6. We don't matter. nt

[VMI Dem]

7. These motherfuckers are chessing us to death.

[HereSince1628]

9. And we be the pawns. n/t

[readmoreoften]

10. Or, maybe he's just a center-right politician who lied throughout his campaign.

And maybe he doesn't care one way or the other whether we rise up.

[optimator]

11. bargaining stage of grief

congrats, only 1 more stage before acceptance.

[mdmc]

12. They do need us to rise up

If we did, Obama would follow.

But we don't. So Obama follows the corporations.

[SPedigrees]

13. That would be *rise* up. nt

[davidwparker]

14. Spin. It is as it appears. Sellouts to those who contribute to

campaigns over those who elected them. Weak executive running the branch. Naive, unprepared for the job of being president and party head.

One who has a Lincoln complex with thoughts of healing the great divide rather than changing the direction that the country was heading in under Cheney/Bush. That was his mandate, not playing nice with those who tanked the economy and country.

He is punked and played by the (R)'s and comes back for more. The bill will have all the things we were looking for taken out, just so something, ANYTHING, can pass and he can claim victory. The (R)'s will not vote for it anyhow.

Yes, global1, the base will rise up and vote (or not show up to vote) him out of office in 2012. Or, better, defeated by some primary challenger(s) so that an (R) doesn't take the White House in 2012.

Paging Dr. Dean. Howard Dean. Paging Dr. Dean.

[grahamhgreen]

15. Sigh. if only. but he could just ask for a million of us in DC tomorrow for single-payer....

[jeanpalmer]

17. Why would they want that?

I believe the WH is getting pretty much what it wanted from the start. They don't seem to be objecting to the final product.

[DailyGrind51]

18. Why, so "They" don't have to do what we elected them to do?

"We" did "our" job by getting out the vote to get Candidate Obama elected and by keeping up the pressure on our legislators. When is the White House going to implement the Part Platform they were elected on?

[Orsino]

19. I'm sure that the president would prefer to be able to look back on his career with pride.

He would be happy to be able to work harder in our best interests, but too damned few of us are interested--and his own efforts are correspondingly lackadaisical.