Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
In the Healthcare debate roller-coaster two things the millions of Americans who voted on this issue in the last election really need right now is leadership and courage. The same forces that always seek to stop any real progress have arisen again and we need someone who will take them on and defeat them arena of public policy. We need our President to step to the plate now.
Unfortunately it appears that we will not get that. Without the White House "drawing a line", it may very well be the death nell of the public option in the House of Lords that has become the U.S. Senate:
White House senior adviser David Axelrod says President Barack Obama would like to have a public option – or government-run insurance plan as part of a health reform package, but will not insist on it.
"We've not gotten as far as we've gotten by drawing bright lines in the sand," Axelrod said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." "He's going to fight hard for that."
http://www.politico.com/...
Yeah, that sounds like fighting really hard. In fact, it is fighting so hard that it has Republicans drooling at the mouth:
Later on "Meet the Press," Republican strategist Mike Murphy called that "a huge concession."
And for one of the only times ever I must agree with a Republican. This was a huge concession and may just constitute a sell-out of those who desperately need this President to fight for them and voted for him to do so.
Axelrod went on:
"Those are the things that have to be accomplished. People have different ideas. We're willing to listen to those ideas. But ... those are the imperatives that we have. ... He won't sign a bill that does not meet those. ... I think the president wants a robust public option."
Well, Mr. Axelrod if the President wants a public option so badly, why is he not out there fighting for it?? He has the bully pulpit to approach the American people with and he has the veto pen. Why is he not out letting everyone know that he will not be signing any healthcare bill without a public option, and if lawmakers send him one they are wasting their time??
It appears that the President has determined that he can "reach out" to Republicans on Healthcare. This means he will be pulling back a bloody nub because anything that the Republicans touch always ends up being a huge giveaway to the greediest and least patriotic among us. In this case the insurance companies. Are they who elected this President??:
"The bill will be bipartisan by definition," he said. "The Senate health committee accepted 82 Republican amendments. Republican ideas will be included with this process; we hope it will come with Republican votes as well."
Finally, this last statement by Axelrod almost amounts to an insult to those of us who desperately need a real healthcare bill:
Axelrod answered: "I don't think we should get consumed by process at a time when health care costs ... doubled in this decade. Ultimately, we'll bring the federal budget down. We have to act. We can't afford to get consumed in these types of Washington discussions."
What is that supposed to mean?? "Consumed by process"?? When the process involves fighting for what is right on healthcare it seems this White House will never be "consumed" with it. I've got news for Mr. Axelrod. Any kind of reform that does not include a robust public option is not reform at all, it is merely yet another giveaway to the Insurance lobby. Is that what we all worked so hard for last year?? I do not think the White House should be "consumed" by "discussions", they should be "consumed" by fighting for the people that got them elected. If we would have wanted Republicans to write the healthcare bill we would have donated, volunteered, and voted for them.
This could just be the death of a public option. We all know the Corporate Democrats in the Congress have been chomping at the bit to sink this much needed piece of progress and now they have the fuel to the fire from the White House to know that their efforts have succeeded. Without Obama fighting for it, the prospects of a public option just got much more bleak.
I am not a Republican. I will not fall blindly behind anyone the way they did George W. Bush. This Administration to this point has been a huge disappointment. Where is all the tough talk we heard on the campaign trail?? If this President really does not think the public option is worth fighting for then maybe those of us who desperately need progress on this issue and trusted him to show leadership on it will not find him worth fighting for either. This Administration is flat wrong if they think that a public option is not worth mustering a little courage to fight for.
I begin to fear we have merely replaced Corporate Republicans with Corporate Democrats. We simply must let the White House know that if they will not fight for us, then they should not call on us to fight for them again. Until our party finds leaders with the same passion and most of all COURAGE that we have, we are doomed to the failure of Centrism.
What a shame, and a sham.