The PO was much more than just "a provision that [the left] didn't get"

[hulka38]

in the health care debate.

Here's the relevant Obama quote from today:

"So this notion that somehow we are willing to compromise too much reminds me of the debate that we had during health care. This is the public option debate all over again. So I pass a signature piece of legislation where we finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats had been fighting for, for a hundred years - but because there was a provision in there that they didn't get, that would have affected maybe a couple million people, even though we got health insurance for 30 million people, and the potential for lower premiums for a hundred million people, that somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise."

The PO is the key to breaking the monopoly that private insurers hold in order to bring costs down. He campaigned and won a lot of votes making that very case. The insurance companies certainly made it clear to the President that the PO meant more to them than just "a provision". The PO is not the small, petty provision that he portrayed it as today and he and everyone else, especially the people eating with gold-plated silverware, knows it.

[polichick]

1. Good post. Sometimes the prez seems interested in checking things off a list...

...not in good policy.

[snappyturtle]

2. .....RIGHT! nt

[Mimosa]

3. There's a fundamental dishonesty in those words.

He knows what the Public Option would have meant.

[Poboy]

25. 'fundamental dishonesty' = Yes. And the nerve of him to lie and expect us to believe this shit.

He is a LIAR.

[ixion]

4. The lack of PO, when coulped with the mandate, means a Big Win for the insurance cos

and a Big Lose for the US citizen.

He didn't bother to mention that in his critique.

[walldude]

5. Yeah those lower premiums are really helping

as soon as I find a single person who is paying less than they were before the HCR bill was signed I'll let Obama know.

[Dawgs]

6. Maybe it's because all indications point to him making a deal with ins. companies to drop it.

:(

[Bluebear]

7. "The bill I sign MUST include the public option" - Obama

Whatever.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vincardog]

9. No the PO was the essential critical element needed and that YOU CAMPAIGNED ON

[eleny]

10. There's the rub that makes today's display of anger and minimizing just so bad

[tosh]

11. After all, it WAS...

only a NOTION. :shrug:

And would someone please fill me in about when and where this DEBATE took place??

[MisterP]

12. it's something that the American people didn't get: they were 60-70% for it, & it would benefit them

[MisterP]

24. on second thought, you can't be a centrist without claiming you're "for the people"

and the "extremists" are only petulant weirdos with unpopular pet issues

funny thing is, Jeffery Paige found the exact same thinking among the Salvadoran and Nicaraguan elite and bourgeoisie: that was the thinking that led them to knowingly cheer death squads and the deaths of innocents--because the FMLN and Sandinistas were harming Progress

[Greyhound]

13. Exaggerate the "victories", dismiss the losses, and insult us for noticing.

I'm waiting for the announcement that he's changing parties. Because we're all just so mean to him.
:kick: & R

[alsame]

14. The PO would have affected everyone, it would have forced the

insurance companies to lower premium costs in order to compete. Those with private insurance would also have indirectly benefited from a PO.

Which is, of course, why it had to be killed.

[BlueCheese]

15. "So I pass a signature piece of legislation..."

Now I'm confused. I thought Congress passed things? That's why everything that happens or doesn't happen is Congress' fault?

[KeepItReal]

16. Precisely

well said.

[Vinca]

17. Of everything he said today, this is the one that really, really hurt.

I could really use a public option, but instead I've got a high risk pool I can't afford to get into. I should just shut up about it because the people who actually make the policies don't get it. They've got a good life and the rest of us are supposed to be grateful for what trickles down. What's that smell?

[BzaDem]

18. The high risk pool lasts only until 2014. You should evaluate your options in 2014 before you decide

that what passed won't help you.

[Vinca]

28. a. I need medical care now. b. I'm ecstatic that I'll be eligible for Medicare in 2014.

[hulka38]

20. As was mentioned above, the PO would have

effected everyone, not just a few million people. I heard it on my car radio and his distortion of the PO debate to take another shot at lefties stood out.

[Laelth]

19. Ruling out the PO in secret negotiations, coupled with ...

Ruling out the PO in secret negotiations, coupled with endorsing a mandate that he had opposed in the primary campaign were the two knives in the back that drove me away from Obama.

Those were the key betrayals, as far as I am concerned.

How dare the President trivialize the left's concerns on this issue? Who does he think he's talking to? He should focus on trivializing the Republicans' concerns. Instead, he says they have "some good ideas."

-Laelth

[WiffenPoof]

21. Excellent Post!

Youa re absolutely correct. The PO was no small provision...it was an essential part of Health Care.

-PLA

[hulka38]

22. He seems to be playing dumb on something that he

effectively and eloquently lectured on and advocated for not so long ago.

[ibegurpard]

23. you are absolutely spot-on

it was the key to keeping insurance companines from running rampant when we found out that "reform" was going to include mandates.

[lovelyrita]

26. He should be ashamed.

Aren't people dying in Arizona because they can't afford to pay for organ transplants? That doesn't seem like all Americans have health care to me.

[emsimon33]

27. Obama is a weak, ball-less embarrassment!

[Poboy]

29. kick for this great point.

[harun]

30. That's a straight up lie. Obama know's how important it was and know's

we know how important it was.

He also didn't get Health Care for anyone. They got more Health Insurance for people but Health Insurance is not equal to Health Care.

He isn't talking to us, he is talking to Republican's. No Dem's will buy that spin.

[glitch]

31. "New" Dems will.

But you're correct, he's talking to Republicans.

[Poboy]

33. Of course he is lying, but he bashed 'the left' and scolded us in public.

This isn't the first time either.

[PufPuf23]

32. Spot on post. Thanks. nt

[myrna minx]

34. K&R n/t

[Poboy]

35. .