Adapted from a story at Congress Matters.
Keeping in mind both that the source is the conservative, business-oriented Wall Street Journal, and that we've already seen in the past few days how the White House uses political reporting to test the waters on certain health care themes, I'm still compelled to take note of this:
It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said.
"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.
Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet Mr. Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own.
On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House's goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.
So we're talking here about the so-called "trigger" for the public option being floated by the White House. This in addition to the occasional discussion of co-ops as an "alternative," (not clear if it's a "substitute") also noted by the WSJ:
The president and his aides already have signaled a willingness to consider an alternative to a public plan under which a network of nonprofit cooperatives would compete with for-profit insurance companies.
Now, I wouldn't be giving you the whole story if I didn't also point out that the President issued a statement of his own in response to this, and that his statement is being read as a walk-back of Rahm's comments (if you're reading charitably) or a smack-down (if you're not).
But regardless of what you think might be happening here, and exactly what game is being played, there's good reason to want to see at least the perception of distance between Emanuel and Obama on this.
Given the widespread discussion and popularity of the strategy outlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) -- that is, for the Democratic Caucus to agree to unify in support of an up-or-down vote on a health plan with a real public option -- Emanuel's comments bring this to mind for me:
The stimulus bill was essentially held hostage to the whims of Collins, Snowe, and Specter, but if Al Franken, the apparent winner of the disputed Minnesota Senate race, had been seated in Washington, and if Ted Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, had been regularly available to vote, the White House would have needed only one Republican to pass the measure. "No disrespect to Paul Krugman," Emanuel went on, "but has he figured out how to seat the Minnesota senator?" (Franken’s victory is the subject of an ongoing court challenge by his opponent, Norm Coleman, which the national Republican Party has been happy to help finance.) "Write a fucking column on how to seat the son of a bitch. I would be fascinated with that column. O.K.?" Emanuel stood up theatrically and gestured toward his seat with open palms. "Anytime they want, they can have it," he said of those who are critical of his legislative strategies. "I give them my chair."
Was there a reason beyond the stimulus bill why Rahm Emanuel was so f-ing interested in f-ing seating Al f-ing Franken?
If a serious health care reform bill with a serious public option wasn't it, that'd be a hell of a surprise, wouldn't it?
Think of all the things we were supposed to stay hushed up about over the past few years, lest we endanger our chances of winning the White House and passing a serious health care reform bill with a serious public option.
F-ing seating Al f-ing Franken wasn't a top f-ing priority because Rahm f-ing Emanuel loves f-ing comedy so f-ing much. It was so that there would be a decent f-ing shot at having 60 f-ing votes on getting a bill with a decent f-ing public option to the f-ing Senate floor.
Give a quote for a column on how to pass that son of a bitch. I would be fascinated with that quote, O.K.?