Guys, Obama Supports the Public Option (Still)

categories: Obama and Congress, Public Plan

Published September 12, 2009 @ 07:19PM PT

Because so many conservatives consider giving private insurance competition in the form of a public health insurance option to be a non-starter while so many progressives proclaim any bill without a public option is a non-starter, the level of conflict couldn’t be higher. And the new gravitates to conflict stories like moth to a flame. Reporters are convinced that President Obama will drop his insistence on a public option in health care reform as part of negotiations imminently, and are watching him like a hawk so they can be the first to report on it when he does. Commentators rack up fees proclaiming the imminent demise of the public option. Yes, even on NPR and MSNBC. And yet, in every public statement -- including today -- Obama spends a lot of time defending it and saying it's part of his plan. Still.

In short, what gives?

I feel like I’m stuck in health care Groundhog Day. I’m literally having the same conversation about President Obama and the public option over and over again. I went back and checked out this post of mine from February 27, when the blogosphere was ablaze that Obama was about to drop the proposal. Suffice to say, it didn’t happen then, which is why we’re still talking about whether it's happening today.

I can’t prove, obviously, that somewhere within the sanctum sanctorum of the White House that high-ranking officials aren’t preparing a “Sorry, we tried” speech. But I do know these three points:

Say what you want about Obama, he’s pretty up-front about when he’s going to disappoint his progressive base on make-or-break issues. In 2008, he deviated wildly from his previous statements to vote for the reauthorization of a FISA bill that allowed for warrantless wiretapping. It was a blow for liberals and civil rights. But he then proceeded to explain his reasoning in-depth in public statements and interviews, including having his foreign policy advisory team answer questions on his Web site for hours. Obama has also been up-front about what he’s giving up on health care. We knew from the minute he took office that single-payer was off the table. We knew, despite progressive hopes to the contrary, that there’d be no additional funding for abortion or undocumented workers or a roll back of the Bush Tax Cuts for health care. We knew the requirement that every American buy coverage or pay a fine, which he had campaigned against, was now likely to be part of reform. We knew because he told us.

The dude is expending a lot of energy defending a policy that people say he’s about to drop. It's pretty easy to tell the difference between something he weakly supports and something he strongly supports. On Wednesday, has not Rep. Joe Wilson proven to be an ass clown, the main story of the day would have been Obama's seven-minute defense of the public option. Today in Minnesota, he devoted a couple of paragraphs to it, in contrast to medical malpractice (not one word) or the John McCain idea of high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions (not one word) [Correction: he did mention this pool for those with pre-existing conditions. I missed the reference the first time.] On his brand-new “Obama’s Health Care Plan” page on whitehouse.gov which only went up 3 days ago, he mentions it again. If he’s not seriously trying to get it, he’s wasting a huge amount of time making it look like he is.

The fact that commentators seem to have reached a consensus is uncompelling to me. According to pundits, we should be talking right now about how well President Hillary Clinton is doing. Or we should be talking about how prudent it was or was not for President Obama to put off tackling health care for a few years to focus on the economy.

Look, getting a public option is going to be the hardest part about reform, and the sexiest fight for the news. Winning a public option still has a lot more to do with who’s in the Senate than who’s in the White House. But the surest way not to get it is to stop asking for it.

(Photo credit: Official White House Photostream on Flickr.)

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Comments (11)

To me it is all about what we the people want and need. We want and need single payer could settle for a public option..

CFH

Posted by Cherokee Fred Jesus on 09/12/2009 @ 08:14PM PT
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Oh, well 'exchange' or public option.. He got away with that one cuz he says it wont be done till 2013 at earliest! So if he is not reelected it aint his problem, and if he is,... he'll be a lameduck.

Posted by Lee Dorsey on 09/12/2009 @ 09:47PM PT
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It IS a bit... (I'll go with) Disappointing, to hear all the pundits, commentators/consultants talk about what the President "is surely going to do".

Ala = "he's gonna have to drop the Public Option, to bring together the Democrats on health care reform" - or similar remarks of that sort.

But the cynical part of me is almost willing to believe that (at least a few of them) said that... So that after his speech to congress, They could then report on "how surprised they were they he stuck to his guns on the Public Exchange" - which is basically just a slight variation on the 'Public Option' - and it's mostly a change of semantics/rhetoric.

I was a little bit surprised myself, but not nearly as much as the pundits claimed to be. I was very pleased by his choice to stand behind his decision/promise of 'making sure everyone has access to health care' - and his fairly recent change of language that puts it out there as a "primarily moral issue" not a financial issue, was awesome! And I hardily agree with that statement/argument.

It's also a bit interesting with the whole "Rep.Joe Wilson issue" - the cynic in me... would ALMOST believe he did that on purpose. In a sense, "taking one for the republican team" - in order to be the hot story that night/the next day - and stopping the 'President's seven minute defense of the public option" from being the top story...

And the Right-wingers were hoping that the general public would just keep on believing the pundits continuous predictions & assumptions that Pres. Obama will drop that policy, during the ongoing "finishing-up" of the final bill on health care reform.

I willing to err on the side optimism until I hear otherwise from the President himself, it would seem that the pundits "aren't in that business", so to speak.

Posted by Bryan Snowden on 09/12/2009 @ 11:46PM PT
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I think that Rep. Wilson is an example of the " party of no's" strategy to keep this president from success on this issue. Too bad one of them didn't stand up when Bush was lying to Congress about the wars and say-"you lie!"

Posted by gilbert barrett on 09/14/2009 @ 04:32PM PT
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yeah; the party of "No to increasing the deficit by 900%" and "No to a Healthcare Plan that increases the deficit itself by almost $300 billion" and "No to misrepresenting facts to sell the Plan."

Healthcare Reform will be passed, but it will be bi-partisan and not the first step toward single-payer.

Posted by James Dunham on 09/14/2009 @ 05:08PM PT
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Not looking good for the option.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090913/D9AMJUCG1.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/health/policy/13plan.html?_r=1&hp

Posted by James Dunham on 09/13/2009 @ 01:09PM PT
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I, too am tired of the media having decided that the public option is dead. Without a public option similar to Medicare with a similar monthly premium, I can't see how people living on minimum wage will possibly be able to afford it, let alone be required to carry it under penalty of being fined.

I fear the corrupt in Congress will once again be the winner in all of this. If we, the people, don't start imposing term limits on our legislators by voting them out of office after two terms, we can take the responsibility of the entrenched corrupt people who are running things now. It is harder and harder to distinguish one political party from the other. We need individuals who are concerned with what will help all Americans and the Country. What we have now are men and women helping themselves and forgetting about the rest of us.

We need to get the younger generations motivated to care about these things, after all, they will be living with the consequences of this. I must admit there is a part of me that fears that health care reform will end up being worse than what we have at the present time. I can't imagine how the cost of health care can be controlled if we are to abandon the public option in order to pass a bill. If we aren't going to control cost...then what is the purpose...it is the cost that will end up bringing our Country to it's knees!

Posted by Beverly Caro on 09/13/2009 @ 01:33PM PT
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I believe it is anticipated to be dealt with by the affordability credits.

Posted by James Dunham on 09/13/2009 @ 01:41PM PT
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If the republicans are so against the public option, saying it's " gov't run healthcare", when are they giving up THEIR GOV'T RUN HEALTHCARE? If it's so bad, why do they continue to use it? Are they trying to become martyrs for their cause? Someone should really ask them these questions.

Posted by gilbert barrett on 09/14/2009 @ 04:36PM PT
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I don't know. Perhaps for the same reason Democrats don't voluntarily pay twice what they owe in taxes to help the people? Oh, I forgot; many of them don't bother to pay all their taxes in the first place--a pre-requisite to service it seems.

Posted by James Dunham on 09/14/2009 @ 05:00PM PT
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YOU LIE!.... Sorry, I don't know where that came from. But I will only apologize once.

Posted by Joe Ward on 09/15/2009 @ 10:04PM PT
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Tim has been an online organizer and blogger on health care policy for the Obama for America campaign (during the primaries) and currently for the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare, a labor union for intern and resident doctors. Views expressed here are Tim's, and don't represent the positions of CIR or SEIU.