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Obama’s Organizing for America webcast from New York City, which seemed more like a campaign speech than a Presidential address, featured a very strong defense of the progress made in his first term, and a vow that he is “just getting started” on the change for which people voted last November. When challenged from the audience on health care, however, Obama instinctively sought to defend the Senate Finance Committee bill shepherded by Max Baucus.
Someone at the OFA event called out an unintelligible remark about the Baucus bill during the speech, and Obama stopped and said, approximately:
Somebody just brought up something. I just want to say this. Among Democrats and progressives, there are a whole set of views about how we can deal with health care. But know this. The bill you least like would provide 29 million Americans with health care. The bill you least like would bar denial of health insurance for pre-existing conditions. The bill you least like would set up an exchange where people can use some leverage and bargain for better rates [...]
I want to say to you, Democrats: let’s make sure that we keep our eyes on the prize [...]
Democrats, y’all thinking for yourselves. I like that in you, but we have to make sure we finish the job. We are this close, and we have to be unified.
This was the closest he came to addressing the turmoil within the Democratic Party on the subject of health care, without directly mentioning the public option.
Later, the President said that “nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices that are calling for change.” Indeed, Organizing For America made over 200,000 phone calls to members of Congress today, the majority of them asking their representatives to support a public option. Obama reiterated his familiar line that “change doesn’t begin in Washington, it begins with you.” But when the “you” in that sentence made their feelings known today, at a time when conditions are ripe for Presidential leadership to bring the best possible bill over the line, Obama sought instead to defend and support “the bill you like the least.”
It’s not necessarily the wrong sentiment. But given the rhetoric about bottom-up change and how nothing can stop a mass commitment, it felt strongly discordant.
UPDATE: The White House’s own transcript of this event shows that the President was interrupted by calls of “Single payer” and “public option”.
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not healthcare. health INSURANCE.
having insurance does not mean having healthcare. jeeze, does he not know about claims denials? about people who don’t get the medical care they need because they can’t afford the out of pocket expenses (deductible/copay/coinsurance)? or does he just not care?
How can anyone not read the so called tea leaves in that exchange?
I see all the bills say they won’t accept denial of coverage, or permit year or lifetime maximum coverage ceilings, so it’s not about the bills not covering denials – to me, it seems they do cover and disallow denials. It is, however, the bills not giving Americans real choice. The four of five bills that include a public option don’t allow people covered by work to opt out of that frequently expensive coverage and opt in to the public option. Protection of corporate tax-write-offs for that pathetically inefficient profiteering overpriced health insurance is the name of the game so far. To hell with our getting coverage thru the public option on our own and organizing to recover all we’ve lost in wages, according to Obama, the Finance Committee, and most Dems. I suppose we’re supposed to beg that lobbyist-shredded “safety net” to help us as the “working poor”, damn!
Only Sen Wyden of OR stood his ground and keeps banging the drum that over 75% of people won’t have any new choices. Well, the exchange of private-only insurers is the supposed “choice”, but no automatic right to choose the no-advertising, no-lobbying, no massive billing-overhead public option. It pisses me off. We pay for the public option, whether with premiums or taxes for subsidies, and we deserve to choose what we want and not be constricted by any damn lobbying-suck-up Dems.
Perhaps Obama doesn’t know this yet, but we didn’t need any urging to call and demand the public option. And we didn’t all parrot the line “support the President’s plan”, because he doesn’t have one he’s standing up for no matter what, and because we have our own druthers. I demanded Wyden’s plan, plus full dental coverage, because as a disabled person on Medicare and Medicaid, I can drop dead from pyorrhea or spend the rest of my life toothless on subsistence Social Security for all they care, while the 30+ years I worked and paid for my congress’ healthcare gave them some damn bright white healthy crocodile smiles, for the rest of their prostituting-to-lobbyists lives.
After two years and three states, never mind laryngitis time after time calling to get out the vote for Obama and whoever else he asked us to promote in primaries, caucuses and the general election, I am not taking any orders from him. I am asking, all of you here, to please spread the word: Support Wyden’s true “choice”, and demand full dental like all these senators and representatives get. People are dying from pyorrhea, in America, dammit.
i wish. guaranteed issue is not the same thing as preventing denial of care and/or denial of claims. for more on the denial of claims see this recent study: California’s Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims
btw, this is why so many people are getting arrested protesting for single payer — 78 in the past 20 days.
This man we are calling our president is so in bed with the medical industrial complex that we’re screwed as far as he is concerned. Robert Reich asked him today to be as strong as Letterman and not let the insurance companies and PhRMA force him to
pay up
as he promised to do during their back room deals in July/August–particularly since the insurance mafia are betraying their promise and coming out with phony health care reports. But I don’t think Obama has the guts–he’s proving to be far less the mensch that Letterman is. Obama just wanted something he could call a healthcare bill so he could brag–he has never cared what that bill contained. He threw away the leverage of single payer long before the healthcare debate began. He’s been pussyfooting around the public option from day one. Now he’s got Rahm in the back room with Baucus, Reid, and Dodd. We know what Rahm is doing–he’s singing the Blue Dog Blues and the American public will wind up standing in line each payday for the pleasure of giving their paychecks to the insurance industry and PhRMA.
Obama has betrayed every one of us, the supporters who put him in that Oval Office, and he laughing at us. “The bill you least like…”, is he kidding? He’s telling us loud and clear that that is the bill HE MOST LIKES and the one he is having Rahm push in that back room.
I cannot believe the disdain I hold Obama in as a result of his handling of this healthcare farce. He lied, now 45,000+ Americans will die each year even after being forced by Barry Obama to buy the garbage being pushed as insurance. Obama’s not Bush III, he’s far worse–he betrayed all those who once loved and worked so sincerely and enthusiastically for him for nearly two years. That is a far deeper cut than any we got from Bush/Cheney/Rove.
“The bill you least like…”, is he kidding? He’s telling us loud and clear that that is the bill HE MOST LIKES and the one he is having Rahm push in that back room.
You said it! Too bad he won’t unify with efforts to get the best possible deal for We the People.
Is it a real Obama or a Sears Obama?
Who’s he jivin’ with that cosmic debris?
.
The Baucus bill is only one of five bills out there, and the only one without the public option.
A majority in the House of Representatives support a bill with the public option.
A majority in the Senate support a bill with the public option.
A majority of Americans support a bill with the public option.
Tell me again, why we’re being asked to get behind the “bill you least like”?
On a day where the CBO reported very good numbers about the public option, Obama chooses to defend the Baucus bill? To democrats?
I wonder, did the White House see the CBO story as bad news?
Man NBC just put a great push for Health care reform . Dr. Nancy just stuck it to UNITED HC.
The “bill you like the least” looks like it will be the bill that screws the US citizens the most.
I loved the speech and found his endorsement of the “bill you least like,” to be disturbing. But I take him on faith — and know that he lives with the memory of his mother’s deathbed experience with the health insurance industry — and I am assuming, hoping, praying, bettting, that he will follow the kennedy pelosi track on this.
I for one like what the President said. I think he is on track for getting a bill we can all live with through Congress and into law. He knows he’ll never satisfy progressives because that’s impossible.
And let’s not forget the most important person of all: Rahm. Remember, Obama makes the speeches, Rahm makes the decisions.
I like it that way and this is one area where no change is necessary.
Rahm is well aware progressives only impede progress (they are more like regressives if you will). That’s why he put them in their place recently.
Ask for a little, get less.
Ask for a lot – more than you need and you might get it but you are quite likely to get at least what you need.
It seems obvious Obama never wanted more than to hang a pelt named “health insurance” on his wall, even though the real name of the animal whose skin it was, was “skunk”.
When was the last time you heard a Democratic President speak to Democrats and not say some version:”My fellow Democrats”?
Talking about Democrats to Democrats as if he were separate and apart from them and in a condescending fashion “Democrats, y’all thinking for yourselves. I like that in you,”
Mr President, you want to act like an Independent?
Run as an Independent……This Democrat is feeling used.
good nickname, tinman.
no heart.
Best not be reminding us of “Yes We Can.” Anyway I don’t really care what he says. I just want him to fight for a strong public option, and people in Congress say he’s not doing it, even behind the scenes. That is unacceptable.
Remember Obama’s mom was the one who said, “She despaired of him ever having a social conscience.”
It was because of that quote I almost didn’t vote for him, but more and more I think she was right.
The whole HCR “debate” is basically just a kabuki to make sure the Dems still get a big slice of Health Ins campaign contris. Obama wants to sign something that will not alienate the powerful interests from turning off the cash flow.
Obama could just as well be trying to sell a new improved model of the Popeil Pocket Fisherman. He is a salesman.
cite for that?
going from harvard law and the law review to organizing in the chicago projects is what? a plan for upward mobility?
Well written selise.
Perhaps another round of calls today. To the WH. We can call it, “No To The Least Liked.” Yes to the PO.
That’s why he put them in their place recently.
Enjoy losing in 2012 then.
Damn near “uppity” huh?
TIME Magazine:
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1729524,00.html
I’d say that you have the right take. If OB wants to lose his entire organizing base, and see OFA go up in smoke, he can walk away from a public option.
we have the votes. no one will believe a scenario that doesn’t get a public option, but requires you to buy insurance. PO is NOT window dressing.
Winning an election should mean getting your way on issues.
I don’t know about that, but I cannot imagine FDR, Harry Truman, and LBJ speaking to a gathering of Democrats like that particularly about this subject
ridiculous cite:
she despaired of him having a social conscience when he was between the ages of 5 and 10, while in Indonesia?
This is your cite. A quote from a friend about OB when he was 7 years old?
In Indonesia, Ann joked to friends that her son seemed interested only in basketball. “She despaired of him ever having a social conscience,” remembers Richard Patten, a colleague. After her divorce, Ann started using the more modern spelling of her name, Sutoro.
You guys should get a job on Fox or the Hannity show. that is some thin gruel.
Let’s keep calling and see what happens in the Senate.
Upon further consideration I would charactrize his tone as being disdainful with a smile
What I least like is insurance mandate without public option. If that is what happens, fighting in the streets!
Watch it, bub. Ha.
New post upstairs…
Here is some unity for you
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63941-democrats-lock-republicans-out-of-committee-room
WTF?
President Obama’s talking like he campaigned last year on “Just enough change to make it look like we’ve done something good, but not enough to actually have accomplished much of anything at all.”
Thanks for building hopes, only to crush them on the cold, hard floor. Thanks for nothing.
I joined the OFA drive yesterday and called my Senators and Congressman. But I did not follow the script provided by OFA. I did not say that I support President Obama’s plan for health insurance reform. I said that I strongly support real health care reform, which must include at least a public health insurance option like the one that appears in the Kennedy-Dodd HELP Committee bill. I could not say that I support Obama’s plan, because no one is sure what his plan is for health insurance reform.
I also sent a letter to the White House this morning, which included:
I find it incomprehensible that the progressive movement or liberal base is so inherently placid. It is really revolting that being directly rebuffed by this pretencious and patronizing asshole who pretends to talk down to us with empty platitudes, that we should just stand idly by and react only with hurt feeelings and mild protestations of outrage.
This compromised jerk should be attacked in the only way that makes a difference. He should know that he will be voted out before he does further harm. Also the House members, and especially Pelosi, that are the only group that has the power to rebuff Obama in his tracks should be supppored to the hilt.
Obama talks nothing but jibberish with asssuming that insurers somehow provide care and that leaving insurers with the ability to raise premiums unchecked is somehow a great deal. It is bad enough to get screwed but worse to being taken for a fool and being screwed by a pretentious piece of crap. Fuck him, the very sound of his voice is offensive.
We should start looking for a aviable alternative candidate to run next time such as Sherrod Brown, Jay Rockefeller, Elliot Spitzer? or that nice looking Michigan gov, Jennifer Granholm. What we need is a liberal stalwart protector of the public’s interest.
Peterboy (and bmull) I read the TIME piece and I agree with Peterboy — citing that line about his mother ‘despairing that he’d ever find a social conscience’ is inane, since Obama was still in grade school. In fact the extent to which Ann Dunham had a vibrant social conscience, and the obvious impact it had on his early years as a community organizer, makes me think twice every time I want to consign Obama to the ranks of the total sellouts.
That said, I cringe every time he opens his mouth lately on HCR and manages to dodge the Public Option like a quarterback under the blitz. Maybe he’s still stinging from August and doesn’t want to it to draw more fire, maybe he’s selling out for healthcare dollars, maybe…maybe…maybe.
I’d love to know exactly what’s going on, but I’d be a fool to think the game is ever played in such a transparent fashion, no matter what ‘change’ I’d like to believe in. All I can do is call, email and threaten to keep withholding my dollars.
I also voted for him– in the general– but he was my 4th choice.
Thanks for the TRUE quote.
Obama sounds like he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.
You don’t come to New York, one of the must progressive states in the union and talk about how we should all just accept the finance committee bill.
If you ever needed more proof that Obama is not “playing chess” that he doesn’t have some master plan then here you go. He wants his corporate overlords happy, and is willing to throw out the base to do it.
Selise, thanks for that article from Counterpunch about the arrests and the “Mobilization for Health Care for All” organization.
I know that I’m going to get pounced on here for saying this, but Obama doesn’t have a clue what’s going on and that’s why I strongly supported Hillary Clinton last year.
She’s not perfect, but she would have been better than this.
Obama made us feel good, but he’s surrounded himself with people who are not going to give us what he promised.
Again, I know that many of you don’t agree with me re Clinton, so please just know that I am on the same page with you on issues like health insurance reform and let’s stay focused on pressuring the President and the Democratic Congress.
selise, I want you to know that I’m going to the links you send us and reading your insightful comments about the shortcomings of the current proposals. Don’t think those of us who aren’t responding with comments aren’t listening. Thanks!
Why is he telling us to support the LEAST bill and not whipping the Senate to support the BEST bill? Is the administration so far in the pocket of the Health/Insurance Complex that he believes his base will support him no matter what, that independents who voted for him won’t notice his changes are for the worse?
I hadn’t seen that particular quote before. It sent me to google and to wikipedia.
Frankly, after reading this story at Time and this bio on wikipedia, I think perhaps the president’s mother might have been a better president for all of us.
thank you!
and just because i’m persistent is challenging the talking points on the current bills, doesn’t mean i don’t strongly support your (and other’s) efforts to get the best outcome possible this year. i do!
besides the whole “informed citizenry” thing, i just don’t want the current legislation to be over hyped if that will mean disappointed blow back on the dems and progressives.
also, i’m just trying to keep talk of single payer alive, especially for the kucinich amendment. because i think that’s the only policy that will provide universal healthcare and control costs — which must ulitimately be the goal if we believe healthcare is a human right.
I agree with you. And I voted for Clinton in the PA primary, too.
‘Cuz we’re the serfs… and they (the senate) are not.
If nothing can stop us, then why is he ignoring 70% of the country on a consistent basis?
It begins to smell like baiting the base to keep the pressure on Congress.
Congress, however wants to use him as cover for the fact that Reid can’t or won’t deliver party unity on what the public wants. Obama remaining non-committal focuses attention on the Congress.
It also has the advantage of undercutting the industries who negotiated in bad faith (those supporting Americans for Prosperity, for example) coming back and charging that Obama broke his agreements. If he seems true to his negotiations, he can set up other industry groups the same way.
The fact is we need to stop “reading the tea leaves” when dealing with a poker player. We will never ever know what Obama really thinks about any issue. It could be that poker player Obama is simply saying that his reading of where Congress is that the worst hand is better than the status quo. And he will continue to say that publicly until the Democratic caucus in the Senate is united. And certainly until the Senate actually has the reconciled bill.
That is what is driving the right wing nuts. They’ve not been able to get traction on this issue despite the millions of dollars and 24/7 propaganda poured into the Teabagger movement and Americans for Prosperity. The majority of the public now sees through the government takeover lie and the harder it is pushed the more support for a robust public option solidifies.
Progressives have — by being where the public is (thus the popularity of the public option) instead of being ahead of the public. Being where the public opinion should be a backstop for legislation in Congress at the same time that we work to move the public toward realistic and practical change–and give them the legislative opportunity to test the popularity of the visionary.
Looking at where public opinion is and not the opinions of progressive bloggers, taking single payer off the table was a huge political mistake brought about by folks like Baucus and Ross; hopefully Pelosi and Reid have learned from that fiasco. Those ads run in Nebraska, Montana, Arkansas, and other states might not have gotten the politician in question to publicly admit to a changed position, but it has definitely moved and solidified public opinion to know who the compromised Democrats are.
And we should realize that there are other players in the White House than Rahm Emmanuel, and Obama seems to play them against each other before deciding.
Finally if having gotten a nominal filibuster-proof majority in the Democratic caucus, the task is not to move that Congress in a progressive direction without expecting Obama to help. What he will always be stating is the least of what we can expect out of Congress. If there is any primarying to be done, it is against members of Congress who, like Baucus or Mike Ross or Jim Cooper, are out of step with their constituents and those who pay more attention to contributors who have vested corporate intrerests in their position than to their constituents. In most cases, both of those conditions apply.
I would rather be dealing with these issues than dealing with a McCain presidency and a Republican Congress.
Go for the whole loaf. You may not get it, but with the Rahm-Obama approach, we’ll end up with a couple of crumbs–and the insurance, pharma and for-profit health care providers will end up with the entire bakery.
IMHO, I tend to think the actual scenario is closer to what you describe than it is evidence of some kind of total sellout.
Hope I’m right, and will do my bit to keep up the pressure in the meantime.
Obama is willing to settle for next to nothing. His OFA quote, which stinks of the myth “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” fits perfectly with the ongoing WH line that Obama prefers the public option but is willing to consider all other ideas. Obama knows the public option is the best solution but he’s still willing to ditch it. “Yes, we can”**
**but that doesn’t mean we will.
That speech recharged my batteries. I’m all for unity. He did make a good case that even the worst bill is better than nothing.
I still want single payer. If we can’t get that, I want a strong public option.
The problem is that even the best of the bills being considered don’t go far enough. Can we really call it a public option if a large majority don’t have it as an option? Even worse, those who do qualify to get it really have no other option, not even the option of not buying insurance at all.
If they are unwilling or unable to regulate the health insurance companies to keep them from ripping us off, the least they could do is encourage competition in healthcare insurance. Without competition, the insurance companies can just pass along any taxes or fines they might get to their customers.
Health insurance companies should be encouraged to go compete in new markets, and have to deal with new competition in their own markets. They could make laws that could reward or punish the companies behavior with taxes. They could make things more affordable and efficient for healthcare providers by encouraging health insurance companies to use standardized forms.
So this is interesting. Your premise is to push either Single Payer or the Public Option on all of us even if we have insurance already paid for out of our own pockets AND are happy with it. What happened to this just being “another affordable option”? BTW as I am sure you know, if you get the public option, it will eventually become single payer.
Also, I agree with the first line of your last paragraph, but why does it take a complete overhaul of the Health Care industry to allow competition.
I agree with a lot of your sentiments, but I’m not sure I’m sure I’m ready to go with “pretentious piece of crap” quite yet.
On alternative candidates, I think we ought to look at Sheldon Whitehouse. He seems like a really straight up guy. The most trustworthy guy to fight for us is probably Bernie Sanders, but his “image,” sadly, is not the sort that the MSM would find impressive.
I keep trying to trust Obama on healthcare, but it’s a struggle. A President who turned the economy over to ex-Goldman Sachs guys and who enlisted Rahm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff has made it pretty clear where he’s coming from.
Who knows what the motivation was for that except Obama? He didn’t show a consistent commitment to grassroot progressive efforts before or after that. This is just one thing he can list on his resume. Maybe at the time he wanted to do something like this. It’s not unusual for an otherwise mainstream person to want to do something to help those in need. Even right-wing folks often participate in charities through their churches. That’s the most positive way to look at it, taking into reality he is not a progressive fighter for the poor, working class, etc now. The more skeptical way to look at it is that he saw it as a stepping stone to advance his political career. What better way to win local (Democratic) votes than to show you have done something for the community?
My bets, as they have been for months, is we end up with largely the Baucus Bill. Perhaps some concessions will be made at the last minute, which will serve to fool those on the left into thinking they’ve won some kind of victory forgetting the original bill was completely absurd to begin with. I even can see a Public Option in name only being included at the last second, but it not being the robust public option nearly everyone means when they use that term. However, it will be enough to placate those who blindly support and defend Obama as well as the many who do not follow the ins and outs of this closely. They’ll hear him say “public option” on the TV while flipping through channels and think it’s what they’ve been supporting from the beginning.
There are many reasons I came to this conclusion, but it’s important to note the silence from the hc industry, except recently, in fighting health care reform. Seems rather odd this billion dollar industry would be relatively quiet if they thought their business was in jeopardy. They’ve certainly fought hard in the past. All the visits from hc industry reps early on, no progressives, and the lack of a PR war to kill health care reform from those industries is more than suspicious.