No, President Obama Is Not A Hall-of-Fame-Worthy BS Artist, aka Why I Defend The ACA

[woo me with science]

63. That is a hell of a lot of wishful thinking

and projecting virtuous motives onto corporate Democrats that they have shown no sign of wanting to embrace.

There is NO sign...I mean zero, zip, nada...that what you anticipate here is anywhere on the administration's agenda at all. In fact, all history and evidence point in the opposite direction.

This administration had the opportunity to push for a public option on behalf of Americans at the time of the passage of the ACA. Not only did Obama NOT do that, he made a point of not mentioning the option publicly *at all.* This despite the fact that the country was polling heavily in favor of a public option and would have rallied to lend strength to his demand, had he chosen to demand it. Instead, it was as though all his campaigning on that issue vanished into a memory hole, and the public option was quietly dropped in a backroom deal. It would have been inconvenient to mention, because public response could have thrown a wrench into the corporate scam we ultimately got.

And since the ACA's passage, what have we heard? Oh, there have been some changes, but consistently on behalf of the corporations and at the expense of the people:

The employer mandate was delayed...the mandate for Americans? Not so much:

White House delays employer mandate requirement until 2015
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/02/white-house-delays-employer-mandate-requirement-until-2015/

Out of pocket caps on costs for patients....also delayed...again targeting the *people,* not the insurance corporations.

Limit on Consumer Costs Is Delayed in Health Care Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/us/a-limit-on-consumer-costs-is-delayed-in-health-care-law.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Obama's deliberate silence on and dealing away of the public option, along with the subsequent emphasis on changes to help insurance companies rather than patients, shows more clearly the direction of this administration than anything happening in Vermont. It is beyond absurd to suggest that this President, a most eloquent and passionate speaker on behalf of austerity peas, is a champion for single payer when he could not even bring himself to publicly advocate, let alone even *mention,* a public option...
...
...EVEN when Democrats already controlled the Presidency and half of Congress, and EVEN when the country clearly supported the policy and could have been rallied behind it.

We didn't hear about it BECAUSE the country supported it. That is the sad, ugly truth.