Political pundit Greg Sargent must have thought that the fight for healthcare reform was going to be a walk in the park for President Obama and Democrats.
The way he comes across in his latest .blog item at "The Plum Line," he seems to think that the fight should have been much easier, and the opponents are gaining traction by the minute.
Not so fast, Greg. Not only did President Obama and others warn of the long fight ahead as early as Obama's presidential campaign last year, polling indicates that there is more than three-quarters support from the American people for the public option.
More below.
Here's how Sargent begins his blog item:
This has to be the Obama camp’s most direct and premeditated shot at the media yet: His outside political operation just blasted an email to supporters directly faulting the press for falling down on the job of debunking health care "lies."
The email from Organizing for America, which was forwarded by a reader, is obviously not addressed to the media and explicitly focuses blames on the press for the traction that reform foes have gained. Hitting the media riles the base, and the email also asks for donations to fund OFA, because "stepping in where the media fails is a daunting challenge."
"Our opponents will create and spread outrageous lies to try to stop President Obama from creating real change," reads the email from OFA chief Mitch Stewart. "We just can’t count on the media to debunk them."
It's not that the president and his team haven't aggressively sought to debunk the outright lies spread by opponents of any healthcare reform (see this web site, for example), and it's also not that healthcare support has wanted (how can anyone say that given how strong support for the public option is).
It's that some in the media have chosen to present the lies of opponents and the volume of their protests regardless of the true facts about the proposal that has presented. And I think it's right to wonder why the media hasn't given more coverage to those who support the measure.
And as I think about this more, why did it take the passing of Ted Kennedy for the media to finally understand that the public option has support that cannot be denied.
I think Greg Sargent needs to be educated on the extent of healthcare reform and perhaps bring him out of the Washington beltway so he can see how strong the support is for the public option despite his protests to the contrary.