Obama: " I couldn't go through the front door at this country's founding."

[kpete]

The whole thing is worth quoting at length. Asked by a reporter if the Bush tax cuts deal showed that he has no core principles that he's willing to stand firm on, Obama said:

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. I pass a signature piece of legislation where we finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats have 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 of million people, even though we got health insurance for 30 million people, and the potential for lower premiums for maybe 100 million people, that somehow that was a sign of weakness, of compromise.

If that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it: We will never get anything done. People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position, and no victories for the American people. And we will be able to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about how pure our intentions are and how tough we are.

And in the meantime the American people are still saying to themselves, (I'm) not able to get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. Or not being able to pay their bills because their unemployment insurance ran out. That can't be the measure of how we think about public service. That can't be the measure of what it means to be a Democrat. This is a big, diverse country. Not everybody agrees with us. I know that shocks people...

This country was founded on compromise. I couldn't go through the front door at this country's founding. If we were really thinking about ideal positions, we wouldn't have a union.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/12/obama_adult-in-chief_in_a_town.html

[Safetykitten]

1. MLK are you hearing that? Compromise was the key.

[ProSense]

4. Compromise was the key in Congress

The President is not in MLK's position. He's in LBJ's. They voted on passage of the Civil Rights Act, and left out Voting Rights.

[Safetykitten]

7. You truly are astounding. I mean really. You have to take a bow.

He talks about not being able to walk through a door, years of fighting for civil rights, MLK was the person who made it possible.

You minimize it, turn it into something trivial about politics.

He went there. MLK is the reason he could.

Oh, and the last time I looked, MLK was NOT afraid of fighting, you know, actually demanding and getting change.

[ProSense]

11. Oh please

Stop pretending the Civil Rights Act wasn't negotiated and voted on in Congress. It passed in 1964.

An act of Congress takes nothing away from the struggles of MLK. His efforts, more than any, led to that vote.

[okieinpain]

36. yeah but it took a big pounding for it to. he compromised

because it was what needed to be done. I'm not saying your wrong about obama, but don't say that mlk didn't make compromises.

[WI_DEM]

16. Many in the Civil Rights Movement considered MLK a moderate.

yet he was the most effective voice in the movement.

[Union Scribe]

25. Which goes to show the rightward slide the US has endured.

[CreekDog]

35. your suggestion that he was a political moderate is offensive and insulting to his legacy

he was a moderate among the array of civil rights leaders in many ways...politically he was to the left of almost every elected official.

anti war, anti poverty, anti discrimination.

had he been the "moderate" you describe him as, he would've stood for nothing and gotten far less done.

:rant:

[stevenleser]

37. That is not what that person said. n/t

[Phx_Dem]

27. MLK wasn't in Congress so he didn't have to compromise with anyone.

[calimary]

2. "...what it means to be a Democrat"? Taxation without representation.

[KeepItReal]

3. "we finally get health care for all Americans"

He truly believes that making it easier for people to buy private heath insurance is the same as giving them health care.

:banghead:

[Fruittree]

21. I don't think any country gives people health care...

It always has to be paid for whether it's a government run plan or private. I'd prefer to see a government run plan but I never assume it would be free.

[KeepItReal]

28. I'll happily pay in taxes or in cash...I don't want to give the money to a corporation

that is in the Business of maximizing profits for shareholders, not providing care.

The Public Option or a Medicare buy-in would have been cool with me.

[Fruittree]

39. I agree with you there but I'm afraid it's going to take more than

a change in president or senators to change that. It's pretty deeply entrenched.

[TwilightGardener]

5. That's him in a nutshell, love him or hate him.

(I love the guy...)

[aquamarina]

6. "...we finally get health care for all Americans."

REALLY - for ALL Americans?



I don't think so.

[dennis4868]

8. In 2014 it will be much easier/cheaper....

to get health insurance...that is just a fact.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. but when the GOP demands that he rescind parts?

or they will hold START or something else hostage? He will cave in on that as well. This is the death knell for Health Care, for voting rights, for START, and for our existing Social Security system.

[Safetykitten]

10. Yes, 250 million 1099s and fifty million or so with benefits.

[Dawgs]

19. ...from private health insurance companies who can continue to raise costs.

Not very liberal or progressive. Actually, it sounds like something Republicans would love. Oh yeah, one did love it. His name was Mitt Romney.

[KeepItReal]

30. What in the HCR law make it "cheaper"?

There are no cost controls on private insurance, especially for new policies.

If you find one in there, let me know.

[Supersedeas]

31. my premiums and deductibles increase yet again this year...with no sign of letting up

[aquamarina]

40. You are right but Health INSURANCE is not the same as Health CARE.

Why is this so difficult to understand?

[jenmito]

12. K&R.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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

[TwilightGardener]

15. I see what you did there.

[WI_DEM]

17. and we can't call you one either, so there we go.

[MisterP]

14. you couldn't have gone through the front door after the Compromise of 1850

it took fighting and refusal to compromise principles that let Civil Rights pass: it took 90-100 years since 1863, but it was the DuBoises and Robesons and Kings who carried the day and pushed Congress past its breaking point, not the milquetoast Booker T. Washingtons

[Arkana]

20. It took a fucking WAR before black people were finally free, and another 100 years

before they could vote without fear.

This shit doesn't happen fast.

[frazzled]

22. His point was there would have been no United States, and thus

no Compromise of 1850, had the founders not compromised on their differences in 1776 through 1787. As the Federal Archives makes clear, "The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise." And it wasn't pretty: Obama would have been 3/5 of a person, and women would have no say. Over the course of time, and yes, through war ... amendments to the Constitution were made. It's always a process. But had there been a war at the beginning, there would be no Constitution and no nation.

That was his point: that unpleasant as compromise is, it is a necessary first step to achieving goals over time.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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

[JI7]

29. not so simple, you think none of the blacks including the slaves were brave enough

to fight the way MLK and others did during the civil rights movement ?

Obama gets it. and Obama knows it's still not equal. the way he is treated as President would never have happened to a white President.

[displacedvermoter]

18. He is absolutely right, there are people that will die before they

get help in 2014 and they certainly must be questioning what it means to be a Democrat.

And the country was not founded on compromise, at its most fundamental. Had the Founding Fathers compromised with Great Britain, and not actually fought a war to become a free country, then there would not have been a USA.

Talk is so fucking cheap now-a-days!

[golfguru]

23. Don't get me worked up about the CORPORATIST HCR bill again

For profit private insurers (FPPI) get a gift of millions of additional paying
customers, some via mandates, others who can't afford will be subsidized courtesy of middle class workers & tax payers.

There is not a single restraint on premium hikes by FPPI in the bill.
The FPPI's are free to increase your premiums as high as necessary until their
profit goals are met. Annual rate hikes as high as 34% have already shown up!
They can jack up premiums until that 20% allowed outside medical services
will satisfy their profit goals.

The HCR bill prohibits drug importation! WOW what a bonanza for big pharma!
The bill does not require negotiations with big pharma on drug prices. Drug
importation costs nothing to tax payers.

No competition to FPPI from PUBLIC OPTION to keep rate hikes under control.
This was the only effective means of restricting run away rate hikes.

Competition to FPPI from across the state lines by other FPPI's is prohibited in bill.
So each state has it's FPPI's operating as a monopolies without outside competition.
Including across state competition would cost nothing to consumers.

[Mimosa]

26. "I" pass.... Yes Sir, that's your baby, Mr. Prez. Own it.

"I pass a signature piece of legislation where we finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats have been fighting for for a hundred years."

Nobody else was allowed to participate? No progressive dems who had other ideas? Yes, it's your expensive baby, Mr. President. Under this legislation I was turned down for a pre-existing condition. And that won't change until 2014. That's a long time away.

[gort]

32. The compromising goes all the way back to Jefferson and the Declaration

Rutledge forced Jefferson to remove a clause denouncing slavery from the Declaration of Independance or the Southern states would not sign. This country is built on compromise

Rutledge:

"Molasses to rum to slaves
Who sail the ships back to Boston
Ladened with gold, see it gleam
Whose fortunes are made in the triangle trade
Hail slavery, the New England dream!
Mr. Adams, I give you a toast:
Hail Boston! Hail Charleston!
Who stinketh the most?"

Lyrics from the Musical 1776. I agree not the best to use quotes from an historically inaccurate musical, but I think it gets the point across. We would not have a country without compromise.

[BlueIris]

33. I just can't accept that explanation.

Is that really all you've got to justify your decisions? Really? That is it?

Terrible.

[stevenleser]

34. The truth from someone about their own motivations and decisionmaking doesnt work for you?

You want him to make something up about what he was thinking?

[ibegurpard]

38. pony

that's what he said