President Obama: Public option is not dead
By John Amato Sunday Sep 20, 2009 2:00pm
I was shocked that the media barely mentioned the public option during President Obama's media blitz today. David Gregory did discuss it on Meet The Press and told Obama that he essentially killed it. Obama denied it:
DAVID GREGORY: Like the public option. You effectively said to the left, "It's not gonna happen."
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well what I — no, no, that's not true. What I — what I've said is the public option, I think, should be a part of this but we shouldn't think that, somehow, that's the silver bullet that solves health care. What I've said, for example, on — what's called an individual mandate. During the campaign I said, "Look, if — health care is affordable, then I think people will buy it." So we don't have to say to — to folks, "You know what? You have to buy health care."
And — what — when I talked to health care experts on both the left and the right what they tell me is that, even after you make health care affordable, there's still gonna be some folks out there who — whether out of inertia, or they just don't want to but — spend the money — would rather take their chances.
Unfortunately, what that means, is then you and I and every American out there who has health insurance, and are paying their premiums responsibly every month, they've gotta pick up the cost for— emergency room care when one of those people gets sick. So what we've said as long as we're making this genuinely affordable to families then you've got an obligation to get health care just like you have an obligation to get auto insurance in every state.
The media shifted their narrative last week as I heard Villager after Villager say the public option was dead. We've been fighting for the public option tooth and nail in the blogosphere and also by strong progressive members of Congress.
Obama indicated in a Roll Call article today that it's not dead.
Obama maintained that while the centerpiece of his healthcare reform effort, a public (or "government-run") option, is absolutely not dead, it also is not the "silver bullet" that would instantaneously repair the nation's healthcare system.
"I absolutely do not believe that it's dead," Obama told Univision's "Al Punto" of the public option's fate. "I think that it's something that we can still include as part of a comprehensive reform effort."
But the president still signaled that the public option, a key reform for which he has pushed for months, would not serve as a panacea for healthcare problems.
"What I've said is the public option, I think, should be a part of this but we shouldn't think that, somehow, that's the silver bullet that solves healthcare," Obama said on NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory, rejecting the idea that he'd effectively told liberals that the public option will not be included in reform.
You can look at his statement about it not being the holy grail of health reform as either a way to not back the American people's support for the public option or a way to keep it alive and then have it come in after the House and Senate join their bills.
He could also be telling the naysayers that since it's a small part of the plan---stop fighting it and get on board. We're still speculating and reading the tea leaves at this point until we do have a real bill to analyze, but I think we know that he's going to try and get a bill passed at all costs. The fact that he's still backing the public option is good news at this point.
ON CNN's State of the Union, a quick search reveals that John King didn't even ask the president about the public option which shows the state of the media. Why was the public option barely mentioned today? Has the media spoken?
Here's Ed Henry's speculation.
HENRY: But here’s what’s also going to worry the unions, is, if you read between the lines, when you ask, would you sign the Baucus bill if it came to your desk, he said it’s too hypothetical.
But then he walked through -- there were some of the things he likes about the Baucus bill. But I never heard -- if you read between the lines -- “I’m really upset that there’s no public option in the Baucus bill.”
He didn’t really get into that. He’s not fired up about that. And so, when you read the tea leaves, again, he’s not adamant about what the unions want, which is that public option.
KING: He did say in some other interviews that he hopes it’s there in the end and he believes it’s possible to still get it in the end. But he’s not -- you’re certainly right. He’s not saying it has to be there in the end...
HENRY: Right.
KING: ... which is what the unions are saying.
ABC's George Stephanapoulos didn't ask about the public option either.
Here's the only mention I found for it on ABC's THIS WEEK:
BRAZILE: But -- but let me just say this. Bipartisanship was always the goal. When you accept Republican amendments in the House and the Senate and try to bring Republicans aboard, as Chairman Baucus has tried to do, look, he took out the public option to gain Republican support. He -- he gave them interstate marketability.
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It's just been Terry Schiavoed.
What IS "The Public Option"?
Hasn't anyone noticed that not one single person has been able to verbalize exactly what it is?
Who would be eligible for it?
How much would it cost?
How would the costs be decided? What criteria?
Would there be age discrimination? Discrimination for pre-existing conditions?
What would be covered?
If you think it's a better deal can you dump your private insurance and join?
What are the restrictions?
And add about another hundred or so pertinent questions regarding "The Public Option".
I think it's completely ridiculous that we're discussing something that will most likely never exist and NONE of us even know WTF it is!!!!
And one which is strangely never engaged on any major blog.
which is why Wal-Mart likes it. HR3200 grandfathers Wal-Mart's crappy insurance, while requiring new businesses to offer employees better insurance. Which sounds good, except it creates a barrier to entry for Wal-Mart's competitors, and leaves the workers at America's largest employer no better off than before.
Single payer, of course, doesn't have this problem. "Everybody in, and nobody out." There's none of this complex, Rube Goldberg-esque, and corporate-friendly grandfathering stuff.
No doubt all this can be ironed out in reconciliation (which is what advocates of the pissant "public option" will tell you (which means they don't really have any idea what "public option" will turn out to be (even as they claim "public option" will solve... Whatever it's going to solve. Certainly, with only 9 or 10 million enrollees, it doesn't have the market power to keep the insurance companies honest.))).
can politicians speak out of both sides of their mouths without pulling muscles out?
there's still gonna be some folks out there who — whether out of inertia, or they just don't want to but — spend the money — would rather take their chances.
There's another group he's left out - those of us who REFUSE to buy into the vampiric insurance industry. I'm sorry, but I'd much rather pay the yearly fine than enable those blood-sucking ghouls with my money. What they're proposing is EXTORTION, plain and simple. And I'm not going to be a part of it.
When universal health care becomes a reality, I will happily pay my taxes to support it, even if it means they're higher. What I will NOT do is give in to sharks and murderers. I've got a fucking conscience, even if they don't.
I'll happily pay a tax for real public health care. I'll never pay a fine for failure to underwrite private insurers. Fine me? FIND me.
But don't forget. The fines/penalties will go to the IRS/U.S. Treasury to be used for The Pentagon etc.
So, either way we'll be financing sharks and murderers.
Just sayin'.
US Snooze, WaPoo, Wall Street Jingle, etc. all say the public option is dead. Amazingly it is still alive despite all these assholes doing everything they can to kill it.
RNC says Obama "pushing falsehoods". I guess Joe Wilson is the new chairman.
I have seen no real evidence supporting the idea that it is dead. Hopefully it can stand up to the pressure. It has done well so far.
Except single payer is alive despite the efforts of the the insurance companies, the press, the administration, and the "progressive" blogosphere. So, if you want to talk about something unkillable, consider a genuine grass roots movement...
a mandate to buy private insurance from for-profit providers is NOT a tax.
He lies.
Taxation without 'representation'-- the imposition of taxes without, that is, the allowing of the person BEARING the tax any ability to control the rate or amount of the tax--was the PARAMOUNT reason for the fucking First Murkin Revolution.
...freshly brewed tea?
...mmmmmmmmmm. tea!
You've got representation in congress. That is what the revolution was partly about.
...our politicians.
...thats what "THIS" revolution is about!
The English colony in America was taxed by the King but had no representatives in the English Government. THAT is what taxation without representation means. Citizens in a republic have no voice in government other than to elect representatives.
Actually America did have representation in Parliament, a representative of all the English colonies up to that time.
If we send them a letter of apology do you think they'll lettuce use their medical system?
the head of state is not a king (or a hereditary position). What you were referring to was a "democracy" (which we are one BTW).
Furthermore, the English crown did in fact have certain levels of colonial representation in the house of commons at least. The whole "tea party" and taxation without representation excuses for the revolution, were a bit disingenuous at best. Especially when you consider the fact that the tax on tea was proposed by, among other people, a certain Benjamin Franklin.
A lot of people have been responding to Tyler Durden as a sort of Nietzschean Übermensch in the sense that he's advocating liberation of the human individual through the rejection and destruction of the institutions and value systems that are enslaving us. However, Tyler's methods ultimately veer into the same dehumanizing tactics used by the systems he claims to abhor. What are the limitations of a nihilistic attitude? It can be enthralling, it can be seductive, it can feel liberating on certain levels. But at what point do the practical applications of it start to become exactly the things they're critiquing, and at what point do Tyler's initiatives start to dehumanize people just as much? In this sense then, Tyler's manifestation, and ultimate corruption, of the Nietzschean concept of nihilism is rejected , but the point is that Tyler represents a sort of corrupted nihilistic ideology. Tyler begins as Nietzsche and ends up as Hitler, and in this sense, he represents the excesses to which flawed ideology can fall victim.
... I only watched the movie to see people get punched in the face.
Oh it is very deep and you have to keep analyzing it for the rest of your life.
So, if the film is not about fighting, what does the fighting represent?
... since I'm spending too much time analyzing the infiltration of communist propaganda within the early Super Mario games.
Here's a teaser: a working-class man fully dressed in red toppling a monarchy through violent action, ripping down its flag and replacing it with a star.
@Tyler
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands"
Read the WIKI entry past the first line: "In republics such as the US and France the executive is legitimated both by a constitution and by popular suffrage."
"Republic" is commonly used to define a state with a government that is indirectly controlled by the people through representatives. In a true democracy people would represent their own interests directly.
Actually that's indirect democracy as opposed to direct.
A republic can be a form of Democracy, but the latter is the over-arching term.
After all, a republic can also be an oligarchy that's not representative of all the people like in Rome, or France during the reign of terror.
That's why the first political party in America under our new system was the Democratic-Republicans. And when they shortened their name, what did they consider the key part? They became known as the Democrats.
Funny thing is Francis Bellamy who wrote the Pledge was a Socialist.
When are we gonna hear conservatives complaining about requiring school kids to recite a Socialist pledge?
Knowing them soon I bet.
A republic is governed by charter, while a democracy is a government that comes from the will of the majority of the people.
Now although we do have a charter, the Constitution, so did England under the Magna Carta, but they were a monarchy. This raises the question of whether our Constitution is a living document or not. And at the same time we're a Common Law country, based on precedent, not strictly on written civil codes.
France has gone through 16 Constitutions, several republics, two emperors and two kings since their revolution. They try to anticipate everything in their charters, because they're based on the Justinian Codex, but of course that's impossible as times change. And even under Napoleon Bonaparte, his nephew Napoleon Bonaparte III, King Louis-Phillipe and Charles X they still had charters and constitutions.
I keep hearing so much about?
... and straight on 'til morning.
It is the 'Public Option' of your fondest dreams.
The one that looks and sounds like single payer.
In your dreams only.
If such a thing passes, it will be so crippled as to be of little worth.
I have said this all along.
It is bait and switch.
The deal is done only on behalf of the Corporate Masters.
WTF?
Obama went on 5 different shows on different networks to all be shown on Sunday morning and the MSM hacks think he is being overexposed?
Do they think that very many people will watch more than one of these shows? Jeeeze.
"I think there are going to be a whole series of republican ideas, ideas from my opponents during the campaign, that we have incorporated and adopted, and that is hard."
What? Why is Obama listening to republicans? I watched the clip a few times just to make sure that I heard him correctly.
My head hurts.
Peppermint schnapps does that to me.
makes much more sense, i.e.,
"I think there are going to be a whole series of corporate funded ideas, ideas from my corporate funders during the campaign, that we have incorporated and adopted, and that is hard [easy]."
That sums it up well.
somebody here made a while back.
All the members of Congress should have to don jackets when they enter D.C. that have the names of all the corporations that have made contributions emblazoned on them so EVERYONE can see who owns them.
I really like that idea.
A lot.
somebody here made a while back.
All the members of Congress should have to don jackets when they enter D.C. that have the names of all the corporations emblazoned on them so EVERYONE can see who owns them.
I really like that idea.
A lot.
as well as anything that brings progress to the US. We have to look progressive and strong because the religious right is moving in to take over again.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090919/pl_nm/us_...
This group wants nothing more than to keep us in the 1950's. The church I grew up in has become so conservative they don't allow guitars in church. We refused to have my mother's funeral in the church and I have since found out the school is closing because of lack of enrollment. Their stark conservatism has a frightening overtone even conservatives are beginning to fear. Showing the backward nature of this group is necessary.
leave it up to govt to call it a public option...
...and one of the "options" is pay a big fat fine!...
Orwellian doublespeak alert! ..Orwellian doublespeak alert!!!
The fine isn't the public option, but thanks for playing. Your complementary prizes are waiting for you backstage.
I'm still pissed that things have gotten so bad that single-payer somehow turned into a private insurance mandate because of concessions made by corporatist democrats. Makes you want to push back against the system.
...is the basis of all the plans...
...a mandate that everyone has to have insurance, or pay a fine no?
a mandate is a mandate!
(and I'm pretty sure a mandate will be included in any bill that our "contemptible" congress attempts to pass)
who gets the money? The insurance fascists get the mandated premiums, but do they get to collect the fines, too??
...the will get to say hello to my "little mandate"
and then we will find out (who is the real) "permanent king"
No getty insurance.
So if you pay the "fine" you still won't get health insurance for it. Therefore there's no reason for the fine to go to the insurance corporations.
It will go to the IRS/U.S. Treasury and straight to The Pentagon to fund our various military adventures around the world.
Capish?
BS. This is not the change that was promised.
As for David Paterson who may not be as powerful, as handsome, as eloquent and who may not have as good an outlook (pun intended) on things as Obama, it doesn't give Obama the right to act like a dictator and a dick.
First Sestak, now Paterson. It's ridiculous.
The way things are going in the Middle East make the change seem even more temporary and abstract.
http://www.newsmediatube.com
... he never promised either universal or single payer health care reforms as part of his electoral platform.
Not that makes it any better, but he did not promise that.
BUT, he did say Hillary's healthcare ideas were garbage, and now with a "mandate" is doing exactly what Hillary said she'd do. Kinda ironic isn't it? Who's yer DLC?
whoe would completely sell out the working and middle class, nor a 2-faced liar.
Should tell the DNC to go to hell. You know Spector will bail on us if he is elected.
I'll believe it when I see it in the bill he eventually signs.
...and the torturers he eventually prosecutes...
...and the war in Iraq he eventually pulls out of...
...when gitmo eventually closes...
...when all the lobbyists are gone...
...and the wiretapping stops...
...when he repeals the patriot act...
...and repeals telecom immunity...(is when) I'll believe it.
Into the events of 9/11 with subpoena power? Perhaps headed by a bunch of cutthroat prosecutors like Vincent Buglisosi? That would be really sweet.
After all, a crime was committed, right? And I'm not so sure the whole wide world has bought into the OBL meme.
Into the events of 9/11 with subpoena power? Perhaps headed by a bunch of cutthroat prosecutors like Vincent Buglisosi? That would be really sweet.
After all, a crime was committed, right? And I'm not so sure the whole wide world has bought into the OBL meme.
Funny. Katie Couric said practically the same thing immediately after the speech. Don't our fantastic American press freedom just smell like a mile of dead skunk in the summer sun?
Resistance is Futile
The Republiborg collective has spoken!
And the MSM are worthless androids repeating the pre programmed garbage their corporate masters download into their corrupted memory chip.
"Unfortunately, what that means, is then you and I and every American out there who has health insurance, and are paying their premiums responsibly every month, they've gotta pick up the cost for— emergency room care when one of those people gets sick. So what we've said as long as we're making this genuinely affordable to families then you've got an obligation to get health care just like you have an obligation to get auto insurance in every state."
In this backward country, it is this cynical view that may be the only path toward a public option. Man are we gluttons for punishment.
It may not be dead, but it's coughing up blood.
Sadly its health don't-care is being provided by the current health(death) insurance cabal, and the death boards(of directors) have given it the imperial thumbs down.
We all know that a government run health care system will totally suck and will be a waste of money AND simultaneously be so good it'll put the normal death insurance companies out of business.
I mean, really, look at how UPS, FedEx, DHL, et.al. have been totally put of of business by and made the Post Office a redundant, worthless and under-utilized, money sink for the government.
Wake up and smell the paradoxen.
EPN
There he goes again Compromising..and not changing, as he mr change, was elected to do.
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