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There's been a noticeable shift in Obama's rhetoric the last few days involving health care reform at his town hall meetings. He is no longer calling it healthcare reform, but health insurance reform.
This is no small thing. Its an indication he is laying the ground work for a cave in on the public option.
This would be a self inflicted defeat that would destroy his credibility as a president with the majority of the country for the rest of his term, and alienate his political base in the process It is an incredibly foolish thing to do.
It would also be Obama capitulating to everyone who held up a sign comparing him to Hitler. A victory for the right wing mobs who stuffed the town halls with their disruptions, and a victory for the politics of lies and deceit..This is his idea of compromise.It's not compromise. It's selling out.
Obama has shown throughout his political career that the one thing he won't do is fight. He has a long history of caving in to political pressure, reversing himself ( as he did countless times to right wing pressure involving torture) and reneging on promises. But this time there are going to be consequences for him he didnt count on.
The public option is the centerpiece of any healthcare reform and the single most important aspect of a healthcare reform bill . Obama has supported it, spoken out for it, even made pledges for it, and there is not a single rational reason not to pass it. But as noted before, Obama has a history of reneging and caving in when the going gets tough and he is giving every indication he is on his way to doing it again on healthcare reform.
Obama has started calling the public option only a "sliver" of the entire bill.Sieblus, on the Sunday talk shows has said the public option is not a make or break component. Oh no? If Obama thought the right wing lunatics were loud wait till he hears from the other side.
The fight for healthcare reform is and has been exactly that -- a fight. And Obama is not a fighter. He could have and should have drawn a line in the sand a long time ago with the public option making it clear it is non-negotiable. Then much of this wouldn't be an issue now. He should have let the Republicans know from the beginning that this is going to get done with them or without them as Dick Durbin said, and not make a bi-partisan bill an important goal. But this is what happens when you have no convictions and Obama has shown he doesnt.
But what he hasnt counted on is the revolt taking place in his own party. Two Democratic congressmen, Anthony Weiner of N.Y. and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas have both come out and said that the Democratically controlled congress will not pass a bill that doesnt contain the public option. Leaving Obama on the sidelines holding his white towel.
Making bi-partisanship a goal gave the Republicans leverage they never would have had otherwise, and they seized on it and have used it and hoisted Obama on his own petard. Whatever mess healthcare reform is in now, its mostly Obama's fault. His word on anything is now considered to be etched in sand.
There is more than healthcare at stake. Healthcare reform is as much about justice as it is about health. The present system is filled with injustice, administered by insurance companies who are the real death panels, and the reform is designed to correct those injustices and take the decision making out of the hands of insurance companies. And by giving people a public option it makes healthy people more important than healthy profits.
Healthcare reform with the public option would benefit more people and have the most lasting effects of any legislation since FDR's reforms of the 1930's and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
And in many ways health care reform is very much about civil rights. Just not in racial terms.
Its not by accident that two black women brought a poster of Rosa Parks to Claire McCaskills town hall, and its not an accident that an opponent of healthcare reform snatched the poster and tore it up. This isn't about race but it is about justice and justice is what the civil rights act was all about.
As of now Obama in on the way to doing something that no president has done before. Alienating himself from both parties. And the consequences for Obama are great. There will be no bill without a public option. it will get passed. And Obama will get no credit for it, and deservedly so. He is on his way to making himself virtually irrelevant, not only on this bill but possibly for the rest of his term. And he is on his way to being remembered as a president who was ready to throw in the towel on the most important peice of legislation since the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
But while it's clear that Obama cant overcome, ithe Democrats in congress are giving every indication that, yes they can.
Comments
The man we entrusted with the leadership of our country is showing signs of spinelessness. We certainly had the "Audacity of Hope"ing that he would be the agent of the "Change" we needed. We gave him the mandate to implement his ideas but what has he done with it? I know that it's been only seven months, but he has approached the job from a position of weakness in the face of the Republican hordes. From day one he has been selling the Repugs on the idea of working for the betterment of America, without ever understanding that the Repugs have no intention of making America a place fit for all of us. In their eyes only the rich are deserving of anything good, yet Obama has refused to acknowledge this fact and get off this stupid bi-partisan nonsense he's been peddling. If we do not get a "Public Option" in this health insurance reform, then I'm afraid that Obama will sink further in the opinions of supporters and detractors alike, and he will be a one-termer and a complete failure.
Obama promised to not raise taxes of any kind on individuals who make less than $200k, but he raised cigarette taxes by 62 cents a pack. There are 43 million smokers in the US and the vast majority of them make less than $200k. At a minimum, I'm certain Obama will raise cigarette and alcohol taxes in order to pay for his healthcare plan. And now that we've seen him lie about taxes, I'm quite sure he'll raise all kinds of taxes that will affect everyone. The man is a fraud and he's very corrupt. He's a disgrace to our country and I can hardly wait to see him leave office. Don't believe a word he says, and the same is true for the Democratic leaders in Congress.
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