The Republicans have been pummeling us on health care. Strong support among the American people for progressive health care reform has been overwhelmed by the radical right and hung out to dry by the mainstream political establishment on both sides of the aisle. President Obama and the administration appears feeble and ineffectual and has allowed the debate over health care reform to be hijacked by rumors, paranoia, and the frenzy of outrageous lies coming from the fringe.
I sense a turning point here. The cacophony on the right has become stale and the contours of the progressive counter punch are becoming visible through the dust and clouds.
There is an ultimate ace in the whole for the progressive movement for a robust public option: the public wants one. It's amazing that Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats are associating a public option with liberal politics. If most progressives had their way, they would be pushing for a single payer system. To most on the left, a strong public option is a compromise, but a worthy compromise.
Nate Silver addressed the issue of public support here yesterday:
Against this background we have the added contingency of the public option. If it were the case that the inclusion of a public option made the health care bill less popular, then the solution would be simple: drop it like a hot potato. The health care bill can't afford to become any less popular; it's already at the precipice where any further erosion in public support could render it impossible to pass. (For the time being, the numbers seem to have stabilized, but remain fairly poor).
However, this is not in fact the case. Although there has been some questionable polling on both sides of the public option debate, it seems on balance to be fairly popular. And irrefutably, it is more popular than the health care package is as a whole; one poll, in fact, found that a clear plurality of voters think dropping the public option would make the bill worse rather than better. In addition, the public option appears as though it would be deficit-reducing. Why then, does the public option appear to have become such a sticking point?
Beyond the influence of corporate donors, Silver points out that this may be a knee-jerk reaction to be skeptical of any plan that the left supports.
The tide has to turn right now. The Republicans have exhausted their rhetoric. It has become stale. The media is tired of the town hall crazies and is looking for the next chapter in the narrative. We've let the right shoot all of their bullets, but we're still standing. It's time to push back strongly.
A small ball approach won't work. Even if Obama wins over progressives, it will inevitably make him look weak. Incremental approaches, triggers and the like are unconvincing. Most Americans believe that the lack of a public option would weaken reform:
2* Suppose the President and Congressional Democrats decide not to include the public option in the final health care legislation. Would that make the legislation better, worse, or have no impact?
22% Better
41% Worse
19% No impact
18% Not sure
The story is that anything less than a public option is a failure to the American people, who are longing for real change when it comes to health care. The Republicans (and their Democratic enablers) are putting corporate greed ahead of ordinary Americans. Political sponsors have priority over constituents.
The profit that the health care industry reaps is a tax on the American people. Let's cut that tax. Caving to the special interests is a bailout of the insurance companies at the expense of working Americans.
When Obama speaks next week, Americans will be listening. They will be waiting to hear something that they have not been hearing this summer. They are tired of the noise and distortion and at this point capitulation and compromise don't sound like common sense. I believe only Obama's leadership can get us through this. He needs wield his power for this cause and think big. Americans will respond instinctively and respond to the leadership that only a President can provide. Let's tell them how we feel and help Obama seal the deal.