Aug 18 2009
House leadership official on dropping public option: “The liberals won’t allow it”
While some Democratic leaders are preparing to drop the public option in the interest of getting a bill passed, others, specifically in the House, are drawing the line.
“This is just for the Senate,” a House leadership official said about the recent concessions made by some democrats on a public option. “There is no way it passes the House the first time around without a public option.”
The divide over whether or not to support a public option had already split the Democrats when most of the party was in support of it. That split has become a large divide now, with many of the major democratic players staking out their sides. To most on the left a public option is almost equated with health-care reform. That’s why it was kind of a surprise to hear President Barack Obama and other administration officials back off of the idea.
“All I’m saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform,” President Barack Obama said at a town hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colo. “This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it.”
Other Democrats remain unconvinced, including former presidential hopeful Howard Dean.
“You can’t really have reform without a public option,” Dean said on CBS News, “If you don’t want to have the public option, … just do a little insurance reform … and then we’ll tackle health reform another time. But let’s not pretend we’re doing reform without a public option.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi also voiced her support for the public option, saying that it was the best tool for meaningful reform.
Republicans are hoping that the divide among democrats will help shift power back to their party. One Republican presidential hopeful, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, is predicting that’s just what will happen if the Democrats do stumble on health-care reform.
“It appears that President Obama is making great progress on climate change, he is changing the political climate in the country back to Republican,” Pawlenty said while speaking in the second annual GOPAC conference in Chicago.
Not everyone, including myself, is convinced that stopping the health-care reform bill entirely will benefit the Republican Party. Democratic strategist James Carville recently suggested on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Democrats should let the Republicans kill the bill.
“Put a bill out there, make them filibuster it, make them be what they are, the party of no,” Carville said. “Let them kill it. Let them kill it with the interest group money, then run against them. That’s what we ought to do.”
well all i have to say about health care is the people in washington
are so far removed from the real world that it is a shame. they have
the best health care there is, we on the other hand have the worst.
if the people in washington really cared about the people who put
them there we would have the same insurance they have. but we,
the people do have an option. we can vote and i expect alot of
changes next year. it is time to get all the “old” ones out of office.
to give the government the power to say who lives and dies is just
like the counties we are trying to change. genicide. who in their
right mind would come up with this plan? older people who cost alot
in medical care, what about babies who are not born perfect, you all
gonna do away with them too? or people who have serioius illnesses,
they on the list too? AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE
RIGHT TO HAVE THAT POWER?
skw,
Thanx for the coverage of the issue.
I for one, was not suprised by the bluedog and now Obama softening on the public option, these guys are party hacks but it wont be over until there is a public option. If they dont give it up we will come back at them.
There is an “astroturf” movement with these teabaggers that is designed to apear grassroots but is orchestraited from on high. The amount of lies and distortions this sector of the population is propagating is amazing. But they are simply a very loud minority. One that is doing the bidding of the investor class. When at last the majority of Americans who actually want a national health care system check their apathy and end their silence we we have our reform.
Shirlee,
I pretty much agree with the 1st 1/2 of what you said.. .But I honestly cant understand what the 2nd 1/2 is about.
just to clearify shirlee,
Government presently has the power to decide life and death, war and the death penalty are exactly that. And we go to other contries to secure American business interests, US military actions around the globe have nothing to do wth trying to make other nations more humanitarian. And finally a gov run insurance program for everyone is not deciding who lives and dies. Medicare is all it is, and I seriously doubt you are advocating the abolition of medicare.