Wow, I cannot believe the whining and bitching and moaning and complaining out of the left today. All because a bill that is not written may not have a public option. So 1 out of 5 committees may pass something with no public option. And the White House is continuing their poor messaging. And the left goes nuts. We're done. We're never going to support the President again. The Democratic Party is dead to me. This is all you hear today. Do we over-react much?
Yes, the Finance Committee is important. And yes the public option is important. But last I checked the House of Representatives was a co-equal part of Congress. The Senate can't pass anything without the House. And the House is where the true progressives live. It's also where they know what happened to their members in 1994 when they failed to deliver health care reform. Blue Dogs might want to play both sides but they know they don't get elected without passing health care reform. Most Senators are safe, the House is toast. There will be a public option in their bill.
And where did the President's message change? Did he not speak the truth - is the public option not just a small part of health reform?
Mandates that don't allow people excluded for pre-existing conditions. That's part of reform separate from the public option.
Yearly caps on patient expenses. That's their without the public option.
Subsidies to allow people making 300-400% of the poverty level to actually be able to buy insurance. That's there without the public option.
Medicare efficiency improvements. Check there too.
Improvements for the VA. Yup, got that.
This is a huge freaking bill. The Public Option is just one part of it and the President was trying to get people to focus on that. Because we have all lost sight of the other things and focused too narrowly on the public option. We have failed. We've allowed the Republicans to once again define the debate. The Public Option is the most contentious issue, we should have ignored this when the right screamed about it and focused on the things everyone would want. But we let the debate get stolen. We played defense.
Forget the public option. When someone talks about the public option tell them how reform will keep insurance companies from banning people with pre-existing conditions and how conservatives are blocking that.
Forget the public option. When someone talks about the public option tell them how getting everyone insurance with caps on yearly out of pocket expenses will prevent most bankruptcies in America and how conservatives are blocking that.
Forget the public option. When someone talks about the public option tell them how if people lose or change their jobs they'll be able to carry their insurance forward with them and not have to worry about being cut off and how conservatives are blocking that.
Just stoop whining, take back the argument and make people understand that their is a lot more in Health Care Reform than the public option. Get people on the side of reform and for reform and the public option will find it's way. But first we need to win the battle for reform by making sure that people understand what reform does for them. Don't even mention the public option until someone expresses distrust in the insurance industry.
But quit whining. The House has our backs, we need to have our president's back. When we whine and give up on our side where is the President's cover. Don't whine, act. Don't expect them to do it for us, make them. but not with threats. With thinking. With reasoning. We can sway our neighbors and sway polling. Town Halls don't represent anything anymore, it's all polling. Our reps know this. My Congressman's aide admitted last week that thy understand that the screamers at these town hall meetings are never voting for them, they need the rational people who get polled to show we have their back.
Don't whine online. Talk to your neighbors. Explain why things need to change. See if you can get them to write a letter or e-mail. Make sure that they are informed if they are asked.
BUT STOP THE WHINING. IT ISN'T OVER. IT'S NOT CLOSE TO BEING OVER. BUT IT IS IF WE KEEP WHINING AND LOSE THE MESSAGE WARS.
Do you think the Democratic Party doesn't know the base is upset. You can't win without your base, they know this. But you can't win with only your base either. We need to help move the fence sitters. We need to persuade those who have not made up their minds. From their the politicians will know which way the wind blows. We just need to be the one's blowing the wind.