Tonight: Obama Supports Public Option, But Other Reforms Are More Important
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Democrats, ObamaThat’s supposedly the takeaway from the prime time address to Congress, and I think it’s the right message to send. The public option has been the sticking point for nearly everybody. On the right it was tantamount to socialism. On the left, any modification of the plan was considered weak and worthy of scorn. So it’s time for it to get seriously scaled back or discarded altogether.
So what we’ll hear tonight is Obama trying to reset what a “public option” means so that his White House can go with a localized version (aka co-ops) that only happens if universal coverage doesn’t happen in a state. Basically, they’re telling insurance companies to find a way (via private competition) to get everybody covered without preexisting condition clauses or the government is going to come in and fill the gap. To me, that’s a great deal for Republicans who are serious about reform and Democrats who are realistic about what can get passed.
Here’s what Obama said this morning about the speech…
Acknowledging a flawed opening strategy, Obama told ABC’s Robin Roberts in an interview aired on “Good Morning America”: “I, out of an effort to give Congress the ability to do their thing and not step on their toes, probably left too much ambiguity out there, which allowed then opponents of reform to come in and to fill up the airwaves with a lot of nonsense ….“So, the intent of the speech .. is to … make sure that the American people are clear exactly what it is that we are proposing … to make sure that Democrats and Republicans understand that I’m open to new ideas, that we’re not being rigid and ideological about this thing, but we do intend to get something done this year. And … to dispel some of the myths and, frankly, silliness that’s been floating out there for quite some time.”
Translation: I didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of Bill and Hillary, so I let Democrats take this legislative ball and run with it. However, they sprinted right into a wall because they were so tied to the idea of centralized public entity providing health federally subsidized health care. Meanwhile, Republicans were spreading a lot of misinformation and it actually caught on. So, I’m coming back into this thing and working out a compromise between the two parties that can actually pass with 60 votes. In short, I got this.
We shall see.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 and is filed under Barack, Democrats, Obama. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Justin:
This morning congressman James Clyborn and several house Democrats are starting to adopt the trigger Option that Sen. Olympia Snowe has proposed even Ben Nelson and Amy Klobuchar are starting to support it as well. My question is there any difference between both the Co-Op and the Trigger Option?
September 9th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Donklephant » Tonight: Obama Supports Public Option, But Other Reforms Are More Important…
Thank you for submitting this cool story – Trackback from PunditKix…
September 9th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
What I don’t understand is how they are going to: Cover everyone and not drop people at will, lower costs, and then have insurance companies still maintain their ridiculous profit margins? I don’t think all of that is possible.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Obama’s not actually planning on covering everyone. The plan is that 3% would still refuse to buy insurance, even with an individual mandate. By “cost-cutting” Obama means mostly that health costs will not continue to grow at double-digit rates a year. The projections are that they will continue to grow that quickly, and these projections are already factored into the budget. There are some actual cost-cutting measures in the bill (such as dumping Medicare Advantage) as well.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This is all rediculous bullpucky! It isn’t Democrats against Republicans, it’s people versus CORPORATIONS. We have ZERO chance of bringing about real change because our country is all about profits for corporations and 2L with the individual. Insurance companies are no more than BOOKIES betting short odds. It’s legalized, organized crime and Congress is filling their pockets over this deal.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Translation:
“I wanted to create a trojan-horse for single payer, but the public caught on, and even though I could push it through because I have the leverage in Congress, I won’t do that because I am more concerned with my legacy and getting re-elected in 2012.”
September 9th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Jimmy: See the bit about silliness at the end there. Thanks for giving an example of it. :)
September 9th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Thanks Jimmy, your words are more reality as apposed to fantasy. By the way, did you see the look on Nancy P.’s face? She’s embarrassing! Lies, Lies, and more lies. For someone who is a health care professional, I can only say…..if this passes, NO ONE will win.