(Metaphorically, natch.)
The fight for genuine health care reform will continue through the summer but we need to start now if we're going to have any hope of facing down the enemies of real change.
We need to fight hard. Just getting a 10-point plan out there and expecting the public to connect the dots, or playing on people's heartstrings about uninsured families (as tragic as that is) just isn't going to cut it. The public is mad and they aren't getting the change that they voted for 6 months ago. Whoever co-opts that anger will win the health care debate. Right now, the forces opposed to the public option are trying to channel that anger using the same old 90s "big government" rants. It isn't working like it used to, but if the that message is the only message that resonates with people's anger at the current system they will win by default.
We can't let that happen.
Join me over the jump for more...
The message I suggest is simple and clear:
Health "reform" that doesn't include a strong public option is nothing more than another corporate bail-out.
Yep, we're pissed about the corporate bail-outs. Even if you understand why, maybe, saving the bacon of the same assholes who got us into the mess is a good idea, nobody is doing hand-springs over it-- not the President, not Congress, and certainly not the taxpayers. I take that back, there is one group that probably is going hand-springs: the Masters of the Universe who still dined out on their massive freaking bonuses while the consequences of their greed burned everyone's else's pensions and investments to the ground.
Health "reform" that pushes more people into the jaws of the current out of control privatized system without adding a public option to keep them honest is nothing more or less than a bail-out for the very greedy insurance execs who have run that system into the ground in the first place. A bail-out by any other name is still a bail-out.
I know, I know, we're not so good at "talking points" here on our side of the political divide. But if we're going to have any chance at all to make real health care reform happen, we need to get some, and fast. More than that, we need to not be ashamed to repeat them over and over gain until they stick.
So, here's my suggestion again. Say it with me now:
Health "reform" that doesn't include a strong public option is nothing more than another corporate bail-out.
What are your ideas? Let's put our heads together and come up with a short list of aggressive messages that we can use to put the enemies of real reform back on their heels. If you have a suggestion, now's the time to whip it out.