Here comes Rahm with a "Trigger" in his hand and Obama slaps it
By John Amato Tuesday Jul 07, 2009 11:30amWatching this White House deal with health care has been an education. When Rahm is involved, nothing surprises me.
Still, it was good to see Chuck Schumer step up to the plate:
On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House's goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.
Some Democrats pushing for a vigorous public plan say the trigger idea isn't good enough. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in an interview, "If it's not there on day one, those of us who support a public option have a real problem with it."..read on
It's really hard to believe that Schumer is standing with us on this issue, but it seems like he is.
Using the prescription drug plan as an example is brilliant. Pharma loved it. And they really loved Billy Tauzin, the man who rammed it through. Good times.
Dday wrote about the "trigger" in this post:
A trigger mechanism is simply absurd. The insurers have had decades to provide decent coverage and have demurred every time. They have shown themselves to be untrustworthy that entire time, including just last month, when they backpedaled on the cost controls they vowed to offer. Mike Lux, who has seen these battles up close, senses that this is the big proxy fight right now.
Sure, we'll just have to trust that a trigger will kick in and save the day.
President Obama commented all the way from Russia on Rahm's statements and had this to say.
via Open Left:
This forced Obama to interrupt his diplomacy in Russia to release this statement:
I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals.
What happened here? Rahm likely was blabbering to a reporter and just went with his natural gut instinct -- to be weak, and cave to Republicans. As I told the New York Times Caucus blog recently:
Advisers like Rahm Emanuel operate out of fear — like it’s 1994 — instead of operating like people who just won a huge mandate in 2008. They obviously haven’t mastered the bully pulpit yet, which is a shame since Obama is a master communicator. If Obama insisted on the public option and held rallies in Montana, Nebraska, and Louisiana, it would happen.
Today's quote by Obama was a great step. Good job, White House (minus one). Rallies in Montana, Nebraska, and Louisiana would be another good step.
So Obama told him to STFU.
UPDATE: (I just got back from the doctor because of a bad wrist and the doctor doesn't take insurance and I need an MRI that he has to negotiate for me...I'll have more on this later.)
Is Obama just playing games? Is Rahm stating the position that Obama really supports? is the trigger the compromise? It's a muddled mess and I'm sick of the games and nobody knows for sure.
If they try to tank the public option I propose all Democratic politicians hold out and refuse to vote for anything that doesn't have a vibrant, public option.
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This Administration seems to be talking out of both sides of it's mouth and asshole at the same time.This I do know if they want my support and vote then there better be a public option in effect by 2010 for Congress and 2012 for this Admin. I love Obama and his family but that doesn't translate into blind obedience and support. I would rather shit in my right hand than have it pull a lever for a republican , so I will just sit home that Nov. night.
will shit in both hands all over the money and Rahm will still take the money.
Don't sit at home, pull the lever for someone that deserves your vote.
The more people that leave the worthless Democrats behind the better.
I hope the Greens will pull themselves together by 2010.
I voted for only one Democrat in '08, my state representative Alma Wheeler Smith. She is in what might well be described a very liberal district.
In '08 opposed to Wheeler Smith that was only a Republican and Libertarian. She beat them three to one combined. Were there an even more liberal candidate I would be tempted but she is quite liberal.
I believe the Administration is using Bad Cop (Emanuel) and Good Cop (Obama) to keep our forces confused and divided. If Obama wanted to push the public option, you bet he'd pull out the stops and brow beat Congress. Being pragmatic (Neville Chamberlain comes to mind), Obama may go with the flow for a "bipartisan" health care reform (same ole same ole).
It's anyone's guess how the politics will play out. We can only hope that Obama doesn't compromise us to death in a rush to get something - anything - done.
the corporatists keep cornering Obama, who appears to be a strong corporatist himself. He better let everyone know who is in charge once and for all and he better do it sooner, rather than later. He better rally public support for once on this critical issue. the medical industries, insurance and pharma are trying to divvy up what's left of the economy after the bankers take the lion's share.
Eliminate the profit motive in the payment for health care.
That can only be done with UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER.
When it comes to paying for health care, insurance companies never WERE honest, they never WILL BE honest.
They maximize their profits by DENYING payment for health care.
The might better be described as DEATH ASSURANCE companies.
Well put. And the issue is not "health care reform", it is "HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM".
Controlling costs of care and prescription drugs are part of the problem.
Which IS a health insurance reform issue.
Make profits for shareholders. They are legally required to do this. This is the problem.
Get all the people from the previous thread up here!
lolz...
buffet? They are already gathering their fecal matter to smear on their ballots, don't ya know. You betcha.
It seems like this whole thing was a foregone conclusion. We had "hope" for a while and now we are nearly at square one again. I mean, seriously, I am not all that surprised at any of this. All I know (well, to be more honest: FEEL) is that we are still better off than 4 more years of Bush policy and the Shrilla From Wasilla being 2nd in line to Teh Throne.
Feh. Serfs, all of us, so far as the money people are concerned.
brought us poll number panic and other campaign fears. Everyone should have just watched Michael Jackson's funeral.
Kinda glad I missed that.
they will be saving it until November 2010 and beyond.
Oh my!
I believe our cat thinks we are saving his for some reason because he always looks at us with such interest when we scoop the litter box and walk away with the scooped stuff.
butterfly ballots so you never know when you'll need it.
Do butterflies like cat poo? I did not know that. Hell, I didn't even know butterflies could vote in any state except down here in Florida and maybe in Iran.
My cats probably think that, too. When I clean their pan, I always remember the saying I learned in a "French for Cats" book: Don't pee on your shoes. It sounds better in French. Still good advice.
I have a cold right now and need sleep, but I don't really see the difference between
rahm: "The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest. The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable."
and
Obama: "as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals."
Other than slightly more detail from rahm.
They are NOT honest. How about some honesty and straight talk from DC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYKLed9eoeE
Emmanuel doesn't operate out of fear; he operates out of greed.
He is not someone who deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his intentions.
*yawn*
yawning when the good cop shows.
One born every minute and all...
whose superior education and world travels make them superior to any cop I might meet.
you must be threatened by. As I said... you got some self confidence/esteem issues. Wanna talk about it?
In any case, most people with basic education know enough to ask for a lawyer before talking to any cop when in custody. Another free tip.
invoke her? Otherwise I'll wait for someone whose medical qualificatiuons are not just imaginary.
I will however, consult my buffet of lawyers.
I take your silly ad hominem was your way of asking for help?
So was it college or grad school which presented you with an unconquerable challenge? Don't worry, nobody is going to judge you, you are in a safe place.
May I recommend Mr. Cochran, he is a pretty good lawyer I heard. Maybe you can practice your wonderful hick Spanish.
http://www.cochranfirm.com/about-us-espanol.html
you know the best lawyers (most of whom incorporate in buffets.) You are simply the best.
Should I bring some dolls so you can articulate better you answers in case you are having trouble talking about the subject directly?
LOL.
It aint gonna happen, just read between the lines.
This is the same crap was preformed to clean up Californias work comp system, only in reverse. AIG starved out all of the competition, then gave all of the worse cases back to the State after they were supposed to absorb all of the ex-competitors cases just by saying they didn't want them...boom!
(Old France for example) have better health care than Americans for half the money. We should be debating what we will save not what a bad system fix might cost.
Exactly! We are talking about saving people's lives too.
They have it because they fought for it.
National strikes, work stoppages, people in the street.
Americans are fat and lazy.
Even the younger generations in Europe understand that you don't get ANYTHING unless you stand up and fight for it.
Dicky will fix all of this one snarky remark at a time.
Yak land and my ability to diagnose mental conditions as a result of matrimony. Stop me before I mention my PhD.
LOL.
On a side note, one of the mysteries of the English language to me was the process by which Dick came to be the short hand for Richard. I can see now the wisdom of our fore fathers...
ricky, Tyler -
Both of you forgot the always profound "I know you are but what am I?" line of arguing........
What is his excuse?
Tyler means "brainiest blog commenter." You are so intellectual.
... but I am sure of the fact I would have come up with a better response than that.
I am not in the mood to read more of the passive aggressive BS you spew on most of your messages. Another red flag BTW regarding your insecurities, I shudder to thing what you background is and why you feel the need to target people with advanced degrees, but that is neither here nor there. So another ignore user request coming up. Let's go our separate ways. Maybe you can find another person to target your attention seeking behavior.
If only you spent the same amount of effort and energy helping liberal causes, as you seem to waste trying to attack people who don't feel like mincing words regarding people and situations which undermine said causes...
Tah, tah...
You're kidding, right? That isn't what Obama's words say at all. Not even close. Talk about reading into a statement what you want to.
John, holding the president's feet to the fire doesn't mean waving a match at him from five miles away. Obama is positioned to abandon the public option completely if he feels it is expedient to do so. And his statement is a perfect expression of that position.
Read it again and then please explain how it contradicts what Emanuel said.
He says: "...one of the best ways." He doesn't say it's vital, or the only way, he says it's "one" of ways to accomplish his goals. If the final legislation doesn't have a public option in it, you can expect the president to explain how they found one of the other ways to be the way to go. Please, get your head out of the clouds.
I thought I had misread it in my current cold induced stupor. Yeah, didn't see much of a difference between their statements.
I also did not parse Obama's communique to be anything even remotely close to take Mr. Emmanuel to task on this matter. At all.
Must be some of that n-dimensional star trek chess or something.
In any case, Obama never promised or supported single payer or universal health care for that matter. Expecting him to be an ally in this respect is very very naive, almost bordering denial
That is his view, he is entitled to it, and I am sure that he has good reasons for it. However, it is time for us to realize we are on our own on this one. So the people trying to effect change need to "think outside the box" or at least figure out how pressure this admin to do the right thing. A General strike would certainly cost orders of magnitude more money than any pay out/bribe the HMO industry can present to this administration.
Hurt them in their pocket, and that will be the only way the people in DC will listen...
The Great Nation where money talks and everyone without any can go to hell. Let's show the world the truth.
I hope this president wakes up and smells the coffee and soon. People took his talk seriously, and this whole thing has gone down the crapper.
John I hear ya about not being covered for needed procedures. The private part of my insurance (Part D) had to be massaged into paying for a half dose of some drug for me. And my co-pay equaled half the price of the full dose. Creative!
Nothing like having [bonus motivated] private bureaucrats come between you and your doctor. Sure beats having government bureaucrats do it!
...Obama got into office and found out things we don't know? How things really, REALLY work? I am willing to bet that if I were president I would come in with the best of intentions and find out only then how fucked it all is and everybody would hate me for not being able to come through on my big ideas.
Or Obama is just a centrist who won't have any friends on either side in 4 years.
Or he's a pol who just told us what we needed to hear so that we wouldn't have to vote Green in order to be able to live with ourselves.
Meh. Maybe I should just watch Charm School, naked, with a bowl full of Jello, play war-themed video games, and finance a car I can't afford, like a good American pup.
... but Universal Healthcare it is not a thing one just "wakes up to."
For what it is worth, Obama never campaigned nor promised universal or single payer health care. At least not during his presidential campaign (I remember seeing some clips to the contrary but it was during his senatorial campaign).
I don't expect Mr. Obama to do a 180 regarding health care and his views on the subject, esp. since there is not a single proponent of universal health care (in single payer form at least) among the member of his cabinet.
For that it may not be fair to criticize Obama, it does not make Obama's position right though. But at least he was forthcoming about it.
He did not campaign on single payer. So all this shock and awe is a tad misplaced. It would be like complaining about us still tearing the shit out of Afghanistan. He SAID we were going to stay engaged there and we voted for him anyway. If you didn't want to be in Afghan anymore and that issue was really important to you, then you shouldn't have voted for Obama.
but I sure thought we were lead to believe that a public option was non-negotiable.
I am not rich. But I do not want to be part of the problem any more than necessary, so I opt out of the drug coverage. Sometimes these things cost you some cash. I also stopped buying corporate food and toxic plastic junk from China. It balances out.
This is a new headline at Huff Po.
Guess what caused the "fire"?
Why yes, you're right, it was people calling and e-mailing.
Please don't tell me it doesn't work unless you have a better idea.
It does actually have a cumulative effect.
Effect does not represent a change in policy.
All their doing now is regrouping to come up with a different strategy.
This is not over yet.
My only point all along is that they do pay attention to their e-mails, especially when they come in bunches over a single issue.
I would love to see a far-left agenda. I consider myself left of Bernie Sanders the self-proclaimed Socialist.
Time has taught me that change happens in "baby steps". Call me a cock-eyed optomist, but I am somewhat happy we aren't going backwards anymore.
Want to bet? The corporations will advance and we will either stagnate or move backwards. Just because you asked, "You are a cock-eyed optimist." And like I said before: Bots respond to e-mails, Not real people. If you cannot crash their systems, they do not care how many they get.
/
What exactly?
In fact, you just cross-posted this from the previous thread. My response is there at 14:41.
the responce is hardly worth the effort.
Later loser
old french on you and try and buffet you around a bit.
It's good to have a written record.
self-satisfied so we won't do anything that causes them real trouble. Like the people in Iran did.
I knew that Rahm Emanuel being named to this Administration was going to turn it into one big smelly bag of shit.
As Jane says over at FDL - Obama didn't really slap it -- what he says isn't really any different than what Rahm said. We need to pay attention to this one - they're going to try to slip it in on us and we can't let them.
*
Notice both Emmanuel and Obama's emphasis on the "goals"? Also notice how universal health care is not listed as one of the "goals"?
Obama DID NOT knock Rahm down -- He kind-of backed him up.
*
about is the one we taxpayers are already providing them with out of our own pockets.
Imagine unlimited health services and you can just send the bill to the taxpayers. Whats not to like?
No matter how radical the affliction your going to get the best medical treatment available, paid time off, you won't be rushed to return back to work, you'll still be paid your salary while your recuperating . . etc.
And all because Politicians have convinced people they are somehow superior to those who vote for them.
What a gig!
Remember when 60 Minutes did that piece on the travelling medical team that went to rural America? I'll never forget the people who parked in a field for many hours, numbers on their chests, waiting to be helped by the physicians and dentists who kindly donated their services and time.
What has changed? Nothing. It's truly astonishing and very discouraging. The Obama administration disappoints big-time with this critical issue. I feel bad for you guys.
From; Stephen Zunes, AlterNet.org
Rahm Emanuel is a member of the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), A group of center-right pro-business Congressional Democrats (Blue dogs if you will) and affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Conference, which is dedicated to moving the Democratic Party away from its more liberal and progressive base. Numbering only 58 members out of 236 Democrats in the current House of Representatives, the NDC has worked closely with its Republican colleagues in pushing through and passing legislation providing GWB with "fast track" trade authority in order to bypass efforts by labor, environmentalists and other public interest groups to promote fairer trade policy.
(This guy is a Democrat?)
Emanuel began his political career as a senior adviser and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley and helped him to seize back City Hall from reformists who had challenged the corrupt political machine of his father, Richard J. Daley. Emanuel later became a senior adviser to Bill Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998, serving as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy, and was credited with playing a major role in shifting the Clinton administration's foreign and domestic policy agenda to the right.
(F**king Reagan Democrat)
Emanuel was the single most important official involved in pushing through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the bill ending Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and Clinton's draconian crime bill, among other legislation.
(Anti Union / Anti Labor)
Leaving the administration in 1998, Emanuel worked as an investment banker in Chicago, where he amassed an $18 million fortune in less than three years prior to being elected to Congress.
(Investment Banker.....Red flags anyone?)
As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 2004, Emanuel has promoted pro-war and pro-business center-right candidates against anti-war and pro-labor candidates in the primaries, pouring millions of dollars of donations from Democrats across the country into the campaigns of his favored conservative minions to defeat more progressive challengers.
(Republican Dressed up as a Democrat!)
Emanuel was a major supporter of the Iraq War resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq. He was the only one of nine Democratic members of Congress from Illinois who backed granting Bush this unprecedented authority to invade a country on the far side of the world that was no threat to the United States at the time. Even more disturbingly, when asked by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" whether he would have voted to authorize the invasion "knowing that there are no weapons of mass destruction," Emanuel answered that he indeed would have done so, effectively acknowledging that his support for the war was not about national security, but about oil and empire.
(Pallin' around with Dick cheney?)
He has also voted with the Republicans in support of unconditional funding to continue the Iraq War and has consistently opposed efforts by other Democrats to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces from that country and related Congressional efforts to end the war.
Based on his right wing leaning behavior, nobody should be surprised that Emanuel is taking the corporate side in the health care debate.
WTF is wrong with Obama, picking a Bushbot Reagan Democrat like this as chief of staff?
Here's a link to the piece.
No public option, no support.
Not one thin dime.
Not one cast vote.
Just because "they" say it is off the table, does not make it a reality. Why don't you understand that? Sheeple. Good grief.
Rahm is an egotistical, profane, indecorous asshole.
Sue me if you don't agree.
BID
You have to look at the actions and not the words. Chuck Schumer sides with big business & the military every time. He can SAY whatever, but he doesn't back it up.
I agree with you, John, when you declare "If they try to tank the public option I propose all Democratic politicians hold out and refuse to vote for anything that doesn't have a vibrant, public option." I heartily agree with the above statement that you made and will work hard to make sure that the Democratic politicians hold out for a public option. I will write them and email them and sign petitions to make them realize what their constituents need, and will take the petitions to their local headquarters in my city ( Cincinnati, OH).
Look, as long as they are this enamored with the almighty compromise, you will always get something less than what you ask for. So asking for a public option means it will get compromised down to something even more awful than what we have now, like a mandate for everyone to buy insurance from today's same crooked profit-obsessed corporations. Demand something rational like single payer, and if you're lucky, it might get compromised down to a public option.
Doctors, nurses, technicians, and hospitals provide healthcare, not insurance companies. Why buy insurance when what you want is healthcare? Why not just buy the damn healthcare? There's no need for insurance, and certainly no need for anyone to make a profit from deciding whether you get to see a doctor or not. It's utter insanity.
Max Baucus, Dem friend of the insurance and health care industries, came out of Finance committee, where he is cheese, and said public option would not be on table. He walked that back less than 48 hours later.
Former Health Secretary hopeful Tom Daschile said a "public option" was not an absolute. This was just a couple weeks ago and he walked it back in 24 hours.
Mary Landrieu, Dem from La, says she will not vote for a "public option" and she complains to Obama about the "harassment" she is getting.
What all of these have in common is they are facing a lot of heat, in the way of calls, e-mails, and letters from their contituants that want a public option.
Keep it up. It's working
"If Obama insisted on the public option and held rallies in Montana, Nebraska, and Louisiana, it would happen."
Why can't we change public option to single payer? Same logic would apply, we would get a single payer system. Instead, it was never put on the table to debate, let alone pushed by Obama.
I will never vote for Obama again.
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