Obama has been playing pass the kill the public option hot-potato. It seems we have watched the steaming veggie handed off so many times, we have lost sight of who to blame. Obama passed it to Reid. Reid, worried about reelection, passed it to Lieberman. Everyone got on board hating Joe who happily held the potato.
But then, horrors! The Senate Democrats lost KENNEDY'S seat to Brown. The media spin was, "People don't want "government controlled" of health care," when in fact there were probably as many people just plain disgusted the Democrats let Joe piss away the public option. Brown's win put the hot potato back in Obama hands and forced HCR into reconciliation, which is obviously an ideal opportunity for Obama to push the public option. So what does he do instead? He swings into campaign mode. One potato: He has a love fest with the Republicans. Two potato: He waxes eloquent to crowds of adoring Obots while taking off his suit jacket to show he means business. Three potato: Nancy Peolsi holds the hot potato. Remember all those times we lamented Obama needed to get a pair like LBJ and fight for the public option? Never again doubt Obama has a pair. If he can suck up to the likes of Joe Lieberman, while fucking Denis Kucinich, we're all fucked. Geez, even Bernie Sanders is rolling over: http://snipurl.com/uylc9 --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jst...@...> wrote: > > It now appears that every time since last July that > Obama said he was in favor of a public option for > health insurance reform, he did so despite having > promised the healthcare industry interests that > there would be no public option in the bill. > > No wonder there was no evidence of his having fought > *for* the public option. To the contrary, he knew he > wasn't going to allow it. > > From "Did Obama Kill the Public Option in July?" by > Paul Hogarth: > > ----- > ...President Obama has been justifiably slammed for not > pushing hard enough for a public option, but the > truth may be even worse than that. We know the White > House cut a deal with hospitals and insurance > companies last July on prescription drugs -- but as a > New York Times reporter said this week, they also > killed the public option.... > > On August 13th, David Kirkpatrick reported in the New > York Times that contrary to public perception, > President Obama was playing a much bigger role in > shaping the health care bill...."Several hospital > lobbyists involved in the White House deals," he > wrote, "said it was understood as a condition of > their support that the final legislation would not > include a government-run health plan."...Kirkpatrick > went on to quote one of the industry lobbyists, Chip > Kahn, who said: "We have an agreement with the White > House that I'm very confident will be seen all the > way through conference."... > > On March 15th, Ed Shultz of MSNBC had the Times' > David Kirkpatrick on his show - who confirmed that > Obama's backroom deal with the hospital and > pharmaceutical industries last July included an > agreement to kill the public option.... > > In other words, while Obama was still saying in > September that he supports the public option (which > kept us hopeful) - the President knew all along that > it would never make it in the final bill. He never > said he'd fight to include the public option, and > repeatedly said he was "open" to other ways to > achieve the same goal. But little did we know, the > fix was in.... > ----- > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-hogarth/did-obama-kill-the-public_1_b_503975.html > > http://tinyurl.com/yhzd8sm > > Also see: > > ----- > "NY Times Reporter Confirms Obama Made Deal to Kill > Public Option" > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/ny-times-reporter-confirm_b_500999.html > > http://tinyurl.com/ygffa3f > ----- > > ----- > "Industry Interests Are Not in Their 'Twilight'" > > "...[Obama] repeatedly railed against the Washington > practice of crafting bills by negotiating in secret with > lobbyists and industry interests, and his whole I'll-put- > these-negotations-on-C-SPAN promise was specifically > designed, he said, to prevent a health care bill from > being negotiated based on secret deals with the health > care and pharmaceutical industries. > > "But that's exactly how he ended up negotiating this bill > -- using the exact secret processes that he railed against > and which he swore he would banish...." > > http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/20/health_care/index.html > > http://tinyurl.com/yk7suxl > ----- >
