I might cause some agreement or disagreement, but here are some of my beefs between the progressives and President Obama.
This morning, on CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer, Senators Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman were on with Sen. Jay Rockefeller talking about the senate compromise on the current healthcare bill which garnered support from people like Rep. Anthony Weiner and Former DNC Chair Gov. Howard Dean.
Suffice it to say, it did not go well.
Now, for many days, there have been diaries needling the President on not taking a firm stance on the public option, though on numerous accounts, he has stated support for it. Here is how I see it. Right now, the huge bingo spot for cloture presently is sixty votes. Right now, there are probably about 55 Democratic senators willing to vote for cloture for the bills final passage. This means that four senators, Nelson, Landrieu, Lincoln,and Lieberman, are hampering progress. Now, we have Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who really wants to pass this bill. Right now in the state of Nevada, his poll numbers between him and Republican senate candidates are grim. Its even more gruesome, considering their Republican governor and Republican senator are both inundated with scandals. However, with these five senators not budging on their positions, it seems more than likely that reconciliation, an alternative that may not be able to contain much of what is already in the bill, may be used.
Here is where I see President Obama. He is the guy that signs the bill when it gets to his desk. This is not an unimportant task. His signature means that this will come into effect. A veto would see this bill in the crapper. He can send White House insiders to the senate chambers and even meet with them personally to talk with and listen to senators that oppose this bill. He could also try to tell these senators that passing this bill would be a boon to the Democrats for generations to come. He could have rallies and town hall meetings to gin up support for the public option and hash out the reasoning to the American public. However, thats all I believe he can do.
There have been many who say that the President should bully the opposing senators by saying that the DNCC and the DNSC and other Democratic groups halt funding to these dissident senators, but will that make them vote for cloture?
There have been many who say that Senate Majority Leader Reid take away Joe Lieberman's chairmanship, but will that make them vote for cloture?
There have been many who say that the President should have wrote the bill, like President Clinton did, or put these senators to task for weeks on end, bashing them constantly like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but will it make them vote for cloture?
I see that these five opposing senators have something in common. Senator Nelson hails from a state who voted for John McCain, (even though Obama/Biden did win an electoral vote from the state.) Senators Landrieu and Lincoln hail from states that Obama lost to McCain. Senator Lieberman campaigned with John McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election. Each of these senators, also have ties to the healthcare industry, being paid handsomely by the likes of Aetna and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
My question to you is, What could President Obama do to make these guys vote for cloture?