The last several weeks have felt as if the entire White House staff is having a manic depressive break down. Confusion abounds, balloons are being 'secretly' floated by 'unnamed sources' regarding the dumping of the public option, which is at the very heart of any real honest universal health care reform.
The frustration level of a party that has now essentially completely run out of excuses for not performing as a cohesive unit and has control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives has been exhausted.
So what gives? I believe that Glenn Greenwald has cleared up the confusion.
Glenn explains what I have felt was going on all the time. The very idea that President Obama or Rahm were actually trying to obtain some kind of bi-partisan 'deal' with the Republicans was nothing more than a pretext to get the bill that they have been planning on getting from the beginning, which is exactly the bill the insurance companies and big Pharma are hoping for - the big payoff for the Democrats to 'seize the day' and the money previously held in total by the Republican party. A simple power play of bringing the industry to their side of the isle. Sad but true. As Glenn points out:
The attempt to attract GOP support was the pretext which Democrats used to compromise continuously and water down the bill. But -- given the impossibility of achieving that goal -- isn't it fairly obvious that a desire for GOP support wasn't really the reason the Democrats were constantly watering down their own bill? Given the White House's central role in negotiating a secret deal with the pharmaceutical industry, its betrayal of Obama's clear promise to conduct negotiations out in the open (on C-SPAN no less), Rahm's protection of Blue Dogs and accompanying attacks on progressives, and the complete lack of any pressure exerted on allegedly obstructionists "centrists," it seems rather clear that the bill has been watered down, and the "public option" jettisoned, because that's the bill they want -- this was the plan all along.
The Obama White House isn't sitting impotently by while Democratic Senators shove a bad bill down its throat. This is the bill because this is the bill which Democratic leaders are happy to have. It's the bill they believe in. As important, by giving the insurance and pharmaceutical industries most everything they want, it ensures that the GOP doesn't become the repository for the largesse of those industries (and, converesly, that the Democratic Party retains that status). This is how things always work. The industry interests which own and control our government always get their way. When is the last time they didn't? The "public option" was something that was designed to excite and placate progressives (who gave up from the start on a single-payer approach) -- and the vast, vast majority of progressives (all but the most loyal Obama supporters) who are invested in this issue have been emphatic about how central a public option is to their support for health care reform. But it seems clear that the White House and key Democrats were always planning on negotiating it away in exchange for industry support. Isn't that how it always works in Washington? No matter how many Democrats are elected, no matter which party controls the levers of government, the same set of narrow monied interests and right-wing values dictate outcomes, even if it means running roughshod over the interests of ordinary citizens (securing lower costs and expanding coverage) and/or what large majorities want.
I found it amazingly curious how many people on Kos have felt the way that I have regarding President Obama's lack of 'passion' as some call it, or his utter disregard for a concerted well thought out 'campaign' style highly focused program that went directly to the heart of 'selling his health care program' to the American people.
I expected much more than just a few town halls here and there, or a few selective 'press conferences' within the last few months - I expected a full front on assault with Direct Oval Office speeches to the American People at least several times, I expected that President Obama would perhaps conduct a series of 'commercials' outlining the President's Health Care Program with specifics and if need be, directly going after any myths or lies and refuting those in these kind of commercials that could have been placed in television ads throughout our nation.
Instead, what has happened is an half assed absolute worst public relations nightmare I have ever witnessed. Unprofessional, misguided, sloppy and embarrasing. There has been no direct strategy or program of any kind. The narrative was lost early on, but it was lost not just from a complete lack of organization, it was lost because we were led to believe from the beginning that the President believed strongly in a 'Public Option'............but that is a not what is really going on, and its high time to see things for how they are really being played out.
As Glenn points out, it is 'stuoooooooopid' to think that President Obama and Rahm do not have the 'power' to put the pressure on the Blue Dogs and as LBJ did, bumps some heads together to 'get it done':
I'm really surprised that there's anyone, who actually believes this -- that the Obama White House is merely an impotent, passive observer of what the Democrats in Congress do and can't be expected to do anything to secure votes for approval of the health care bill it favors. As the leader of his party, the President commands a vast infrastructure on which incumbent members of Congress rely for re-election. His popularity among Democrats vests him numerous options to punish non-compliant Democrats. And Rahm Emanuel built his career on controlling the machinations within Congress. The very idea that Obama, Emanuel and company are just sitting back, helplessly watching as Max Baucus, Kent Conrad and the Blue Dogs (Rahm's creation) destroy their health care legislation, is absurd on its face.
When it comes to defiant progressive members of Congress -- as opposed to supposedly defiant Blue Dogs and "centrists" -- the Obama White House has proven itself extremely adept at compelling compliance with the President's agenda. Consider what happened when progressive House members dared to oppose the war supplemental bill which Obama wanted passed:
The White House is playing hardball with Democrats who intend to vote against the supplemental war spending bill, threatening freshmen who oppose it that they won't get help with reelection and will be cut off from the White House, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) said Friday.
"We're not going to help you. You'll never hear from us again," Woolsey said the White House is telling freshmen
When progressives refuse to toe the White House line, they get threatened. Contrast that with what the White House does with Blue Dogs and "centrists" who are allegedly uncooperative on health care -- they protect them.
http://www.salon.com/...
I intuitively felt all along that President Obama did not have his heart and soul behind the Public Option to begin with and I also felt deep inside that using the GOP was just another 'ruse' by the feckless and 'owed' Democrats to ward off all of those those 'pesky progressives' who wanted nothing more than a fair shake at bringing the private insurance companies and big Pharma onto a level playing field with an opportunity for real competition.
It's not even about 'health care reform' to these people in power, it's just about trading places with who gets the most money from the 'industry at hand'.
If President Obama and Rahm wanted to put the right kind of pressure on the Blue Dogs, you bet your ass they could, but I for one am sick and tired of being 'played' and I knew there was a huge difference between how Barack Obama 'fought with ever last breath he had in him' to win the Presidency, and I remember that sense of 'fired up and ready to go Obama' which was never the 'kind of energy' he has used to fight for the Public Option.
Now I understand why.
Like you all, I will keep fighting no matter what for a Public Option, because without it, there is no real health reform, there is just another payoff to the Corporations and ultimately to the 'other White House' friends: Wall Street.
But I will not be 'played' anymore by this bullshit confusion that comes out of the White House daily. No more trial balloons, no more unnamed sources, no more pretense please. I've had enough of that crap. Shit or get off the pot is a saying that comes to mind, but at this point I'm actually more embarrassed at the way President Obama and his side kick Rahm have managed to actually believe they have fooled anyone, because they are fools if they think they have.
UPDATE: Thanks for recommending the diary. It is much appreciated. I will repeat: I will never give up the fight for a solid public option - it is at the very heart of any meaningful health reform, and I waiting, patiently for President Obama to turn back into the 'Fired Up And Ready To Go' leader I know he can be, and bring home the bacon to those that placed their hearts and souls in his hands. Time to bring back the 'candidate' who fought the greatest battle to the White House ever, to fight for us, and meaningful health care.