Why do you think Obama didn’t even put include a weakened version of the public option in his administration’s personal “health care” plan? Curious minds (well, at least one of them) want to know.*
* BTW Boo, babies aren’t the only thing that sap your energy. Teenage girls filled with hormones freaking out at 1:00 am because of homework, etc. because they watched too much of the Olympics can have that effect, as well.
and courage. I wish his “audacity” wasn’t just part of a book title.
I think his audacity is named Rahm, and Rahm’s agenda is not to foment change, at least not change we can believe in.
But no doubt there are others in the admin. who are equally at fault.
the President of the United States?
Because he is presenting a “reasonable proposal” before Thursday’s meeting. If the Republicans do as expected and walk out like a bunch of crybaby jerks and he can show that there is NO CHANCE of any bipartisanship, he will exercise his power as leader of the majority and massively turn up the lefty volume at that point and run the package we wanted all along, including either a Public Option (tricky) OR BETTER YET (and easier for Budget Reconciliation Purposes) perhaps a reduction in the Medicare enrollment age from anywhere like 55 to maybe even zero.
Don’t complain. This is all a part of the bargaining process. I think he knows very well what he’s doing this time.
Then why not pout the public option in his original proposal? The majority of Americans want it? What’s the point of going in with an unloaded gun? The magic bullet everyone wants is the public option, everyone but the insurance companies and possibly Big Pharma, too, because they know it would kill the bloodsucking monster they have become.
This proposal is for the Republicans. Re-read what Boo’s been saying the last couple days. He’s gaming them with “reasonable, moderate” proposal here. Putting in stuff that couldn’t pass the Senate last time would give them some ammo. They have none with this proposal. They have no choice but to walk away, strategically. If it were in there, they could argue he’s moving it left.
Once they walk away, he can say that they had no ideas for cost savings and add these things to fix the cost curve since they’re about as useful as dogshit in the park. Then run it with some of our favorite parts through an all Dem vote under budget reconciliation.
Seriously, just wait until next week to have this conversation. I saw Ed Schultz trying to make the same argument as you today and I wanted to slap him.
Patience….
I wish I had your level of confidence in the Proposal and what activity might arise from the upcoming ‘bipartisan’ meeting….
I’m concerned what we see is the Administration’s list of starting points, and the Republicans will view it simply as “ig they’re giving us this then it should be simple to throw a tantrum and get what we want, and make the Dems look totally spineless and ineffective.
Add to that Blue-Dog DINO-ism, and I see the President’s proposal getting hammered into nothing very quickly, with the Meeting itself becoming a circus shortly thereafter.
Let’s see…..I really hope you’re the Prophet here….I could use some hope that sensible, rational legislation might be in the works. God know we could use it…
Because Obama’s not negotiating with the American people…or the progressive bloggers, for that matter. He’s presenting a reasonable proposal without the public option to show that the Republicans are not planning to negotiate for any sort of reform – even if it means voting against a bill chocked full of their ideas. Once they play themselves, the Democrats can go ahead and finalize a bill that includes the public option and pass it through reconciliation.
.
Nearly 50,000 patients die every year of blood poisoning or pneumonia they picked up in US hospitals.
Hospital-acquired sepsis and pneumonia in 2006 claimed 48,000 lives in the US, led to 2.3 million extra patient-days in hospital and cost $ 8.1 billion, according to a study, led by researchers from the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy at Washington-based Resources for the Future.
Together, the two hospital-acquired infections – also called nosocomial infections – account for about one-third of the 1.7 million infections US patients pick up every year while in hospital, the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows.
They are also responsible for nearly half of the 99,000 deaths a year from hospital-acquired infections reported by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
15 Steps to reduce risks at hospital infections
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Yes. Stay away from hospitals. Besides all the creepy ghosts roaming the halls, you’re majorly infested by foreign bacterias, fungi, viruses, etc.
Just stay away. But be consoled that the new health bill does contain provisions for rating healthcare establishments based on their cleanliness and infection rates from freaky shit like this. They will improve over time but if you need to go to the hospital to visit someone it really is a good idea to have all of your vaccinations up to date. Both of my sisters are nurses. I worry about them.
As I recall, a major part of the much-demagogued “Medicare cuts” would stop Medicare payments for treatment of hospital-caused infections and make the hospital pay for it out of its own pocket. Causing much hysteria on the “left” and the right, of course.
Not sure actually. This one is a tough call, because both “sides” are reasonable. Taking a public optioned bill to the summit would make them foam at the mouth, and I don’t think it’d bring off the same media narrative he’s going after. However, the Republicans are doing that anyway, so wtf. Isn’t this about bringing your ideas to the table to show which side has the better proposal? Shouldn’t a PO be part of that proposal? I also don’t see a national exchange, yet I see him having the power to stop insurance rate hikes if they’re excessive. So why one is there and the other is not is puzzling, as it’s hard to pinpoint which of the choices it is; it could be both, though. (don’t have 50 votes for it, or can’t pass through reconciliation).
Occam’s Razor has never failed me, though, so I’ll just side with FireDogLake on this one…as of right now.
Hey, it could be wrong 🙂
Watch out with those know-it-alls at FDL and also OpenLeft, etc. They ain’t that smart. They just think they are. And they’ll ramble on for days trying to prove it. Meh! Trust Booman, as much as he’ll let you. He doesn’t know it all but he’ll tell you so too.
Oh, well, typically the conclusions Booman reaches are my own. Every once and a while he haves at it from an angle that I wasn’t thinking of.
And yeah I don’t go to OpenLeft except for Chris Bowers, Sirota is useless and says the same thing (Corporations rule the world! Oh, and here’s a link to my syndicated blog/letter/editorial!), and Paul R just writes endless mounds of tl;dr. Does anyone actually read Paul R? I think someone else said they didn’t for the same reason…I think it was Booman.
And FDL…yeah, I usually don’t go there for analysis of the political front on the ground, but this time we both came to the same conclusion.
We’ll see.
Easy question.
Becuase he doesn’t believe the PO has even 50 votes in the Senate. Unfortunately, I think he’s right. Hopefully the Bennett letter proves him wrong, at which point I’d think he would gladly urge Reid to include it (would certainly help it pass the House).
If the public option doesn’t have 50 votes in the Senate, that means:
It is likely that 2 is true as a result of Democrats going into “duck and cover” mode after the Massachusetts special election.
It is possible that Bennet’s letter is getting the people signed on who are more from the middle of the Democratic caucus means that Senate Democrats are peeping out again to see what the political landscape looks like. But there are some folks for whom doing the public option is fine but doing it through reconciliation is a sticking point.
Or…we don’t have 50 votes for the PO through reconciliation…
I was watching Byrd, Feingold, Rockefeller and McCaskill on this front. So far, Rockefeller won’t support it (I think if you got Byrd he would), and Feingold hasn’t signed the letter (although privately he’s supposedly for it).
2 left to go on my watch list.
And here’s Armando’s take:
I think Tom Harkin is a sweet old man but he is an absolute MORON when it comes to getting anything done. If you watched the C-Span coverage of Cash For Clunkers, he was determined to turn it into this wholly NEW, majorly accountable program just before a holiday weekend. His well intentioned efforts almost killed it, and possibly the health of GM and Chrysler right along with it. Thankfully he withdrew his amendments before it all went up in flames. If he would only have listened to the Michigan senators running the bill… But he’s Tom Harkin! Time to retire, buddy.
He’s a sweet man but he has way too many of those “Oh, Grampa!!!” moments lately. Most likely Tom’s been quoting his imaginary friends from his afternoon naps who all told him they’re on his side with this one – nothing to worry about.
Moral to story: don’t believe anything Tom Harkin says. He means well, but he’s a VERY confused old man.
As others have noted…I should have specified, we don’t have 50 votes for the PO through reconciliation. Though, it boggles my mind why any Dem would be stupid enough to stand by “proceedural tradition” about reconciliation when the GOP filibusters have pretty much thrown the whole “gentlemen’s rules” out the window.
Common sense and reality is really turned upside down in the Millionaires club.
He also increased the uninsured penalty.
Because, you know, fining someone 2% of income for not buying ** insurance isn’t punitive enough.
This Administration obviously does not want the public option, will not truly fight for it and has no problem bargaining it away if need be. Unfortunately, the fact that the active base have attached on to it, OFA members want it and popular opinion majorly supports it does not seem to motivate this administration to strongly advocate the policy.
It is one of the few things about this never ending Health Care debate that I truly do not understand.
My Hebrew is weak — is ‘shibboleth’ the Hebrew word for ‘public option’?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2010/02/23/democrats/index.html
Glenzilla details some good info on Public Option.
Because he knows the most politically stupid thing next to doing nothing is passing a new entitlement program through a budget maneuver.
Why, Steven D? Because health reform is actually the institutionalization of the current system. Reform has become promised profits in the guise of reform. An actual alternative to private insurance such as a public option would hurt the insurance companies, so it must be kept out of the discussion.
That’s why the whole alphabet of possibilities lops off a bunch of letters at the start.
What we have is a game of chicken where the outcome is guaranteed. If there is no health reform because of the Republicans the insurance companies win. If the Dems guarantee trillions in profits into the future the insurance companies win.
+++
By the way, my little one is now 22 and about to graduate from college. It is amazing how smart and beautiful she’s become and how wonderful her heart is. Lost lots of sleep over her over the years. Worth it.
adding, it’s difficult to write about a bunch of grown-up whiney-ass titty babies in DC when you have a real baby of your own that deserves so much more attention.
Amen. Are you going to DL tonight?
not sure yet.
my budget is tight, I may or may not make it down (also have a meeting about setting up a new media nonprofit).
also, not a huge fan of triumph.
We’re thinking of coming with Finn…
Because what’s not in the bill can’t be negotiated out on Thursday. The public option is a poison pill to Republicans (plus a few Dems) and their PHRMA corporate masters so it would have been their number one priority to eliminate it from the bill. Now the Democrats can give and take on some of the other issues and look bipartisan, but their secret plan is to add it in later and pass in reconciliation, or perhaps adopt it in a House amendment.
I have to believe this is the plan; otherwise, it’s just a piece of crap legislation that mandates everyone to buy insurance from the folks that got us into this mess and it will surely bite the Dems in the butt bigtime in November.
Very well put.
Nevermind my previous comments. After just listening to Gibbs speak about the President’s view on the public option; i.e, they’re not going to push for it because they don’t think there’s enough votes in the Senate, I’ve decided that the Emperor wears no clothes and is just an eloquent wus… a fraud, if you will.
…oh, and a terrible, terrible leader… Hillary has bigger cajones! As progressives, did we really gain anything by electing this guy over Clinton? We got the whole DLC cabal back in the White House anyway, not to mention all the Goldman Sachs cronies running the economy and the backroom deals with PHRMA. This is PROGRESSive?
All I know is that I feel used and abused. He invoked MLK and JFK for Chrissakes and we all fell for it. Sweet Caroline said he was the new torchbearer. Remember the will.i.am video? It’s all so laughable now.
I need a long hot shower.
About keeping mum on excitement surrounding the Medicare expansion. Instead Progressives went apeshit and turned somersaults on the blogs and the teevee when they ushered it in…Lieberman crushed it like a bug. It was all too easy and he probably made a killing from the special interests doing it. That was loads of fun, right? The Republicans didn’t even need to lift a finger.
The WH isn’t going into this meeting saying reconciliation is set in stone and the PO can’t pass in the Senate without it. Period. So why include it? This is potentially the perfect trap for the obstructionist Republicans and you don’t start hootin’ and hollerin’ if you want it successfully sprung.
Obama’s a lightning rod, as it is.
Keep the attention off of the public option until the Republicans walk away in solidarity against HCR after this meeting. In the meantime, see how willing Senators are to sign onto Bennet’s letter and encourage/push them to do it slowly, but surely, behind the scenes.
The legislature is a separate branch of government, after all, they can certainly do this on their own and they’re the ones who REALLY need the positive poll numbers, so they should lead on this. By my count, only the following Democratic Senators have shown a complete unwillingness to vote for the public option:
Lieberman, Conrad, Nelson, Carper, Lincoln, Landrieu.
That’s a decent margin of error for our side. So eventually allowing the PO to have an “up or down vote” is certainly plausible. Even Bayh was “agnostic” on it, but now that he’s safely not running again its pretty easy to see him voting for it, unless, of course, he’s headed for K street.
I’m remaining positive. Why not? We’ve come this far, there are viable strategy options. I’m not about to turn cynic in the final minutes. Call the remaining Senators and tell them how important a Public Option is to you.
Re: Atrios’ correspondence w/Booman
Spiteful Joe
Exactly right. I wish some of the hysterical left could be forced to read your comment out loud, over and over again until they finally got it.
Because this bill is the basis for the “summit”, which is supposed to be “bipartisan” and look for ideas. The program now is to discuss what would be in a bill with 60 or more Senate votes, not what might be in something passed through budget reconciliation. A bill with the PO has no chance of getting 60 votes — been there, done that. We’re not talking about what might be done in budget reconciliation yet, get it?
I’m not going to pretend I know what Obama wants, thinks, or intends, but the fact right now is that it would make absolutely no strategic sense at this point to bring the PO into the “summit”. I just hope the Reps remain stupid enough not to pass this compromise and thus prevent something better passing by reconciliation.
*Steven, you’re complaining that teenagers are freaking because of homework??? Count your blessings.