In response to Stephen Pearlstein's op-ed in today's Washington Post, in which he criticizes the public option and points out that Governor Dean didn't campaign for it in 2004, Governor Dean has written a rebuttal-type piece entitled "Why the Public Option is Worth Fighting For" as a guest blogger on Think Progress.
He begins with:
In today’s Washington Post, Steven Pearlstein argues that Democrats should just give up on the public option. “Enough already with the public option!,” he writes. Pearlstein thinks we should drop one of the most popular and effective aspects of health care reform simply because the fight is too politically difficult in Congress. I think such an approach would ruin health care reform and devastate the Democratic party.
He then goes on to show why he's such a force to be reckoned with and why the DLC Democrats can't stand him - he just makes good sense, doesn't mince words and doesn't back down from a fight (with either the Republicans or the obstructionist Democrats in Congress). As always, he provides excellent talking points but I particularly love this little nugget from the last paragraph:
If the August recess has taught us one thing, it’s that Republicans have ended all serious conversations about reform and will oppose reform whether it includes a public option or not. They want to make the choice for the American people instead of letting Americans have their own choice of coverage. And if Democrats follow their lead, they will have to face the voters’ choice come November.
Click to read the whole thing (sorry - after 5 years, I still haven't figured out how to make the actual title the link... )
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Give 'em hell, Howard!