December 24, 2009 07:00 PM
Lest We All Forget - Public Option And The Promises Of Summer - July 18
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("All the seasons changed and all the reasons changed")
"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange -- a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, costs, and track records of a variety of plans -- including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest."
- President Obama - Weekly Radio Address - July 17, 2009
So . . . what happened?
$ went from x to y
the only thing these corporate bastards have really done is make us HAVE TO BUY corporate health insurance. I can't wait until all the uninsured militia guys out west find out the government is going to try to make them do something. This is going to get fun to watch.
I recall getting a fair amount of heat on C&L before the election that Obama wasn't going to be able to fix the economy or do a lot of what he said he could. It didn't seem to matter I was voting for him either, I got chided anyways.
The failure isn't the Republican's, everyone expects them to say no. It's the Democrats who can't all get on one page, they have the power but internally can't get the support to do what they say they will.
Obama also promised to reduce the national debt starting next year. It won't happen people, congress just ended this year by raising the debt ceiling to $12.4 trillion. There is no way Obama can reduce it now even though that is what we need to do. The moment he does it will give the US the medicine it needs, that medicine is going to be painful and conflict with his other promises (like health-care), I don't think he has the political will for it.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
I'd say a majority of people forgot. Everyone's talking about his accomplishments lately. Must be that end of the year rap up.
said he would do. I have not seen any sign of leadership from Obama, he is proving to be as inexperienced as they said he was. I made a huge mistake voting for him, I will not make that mistake again. I think him winning the Noble Peace Prize totally discredits the one thing in this world I thought had any crediblity left.
Yeah, we changed the people who sold us out. Pelosi is too weak to change the healthcare bill in any significant way.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
.
Coupled with shady back room deals with pharma and health insurance most likely. We can always count on corporate media to whitewash the corruption though. Merry Christmas.
Is it the 21st century yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFE31-GzjaY&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
They lied... The whole time, Big Pharma and the Insurance companies have been lining their pockets to buy their duplicity.
They lied.
I'm not surprised at all.
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
"Bless me father for i have sinned. Those crimes that i committed, well, i did 'em again. Empty my soul to empower yours. Lead me blind down the path to salvation's doors."
For christ's sake quite whining! We just had eight years of George Bush. Did you like that better? I'm sick of it. If you want things to actually change then don't elect incumbents. Elect people that run on a reform platform and if they don't deliver vote them out. If you thought Obama was going to walk into the mess Bush left and fix it in a year, you need to have your head examined.
We expected Obama to TRY to correct at least the worst of the injustices and assaults on the Constitution. But we still have FISA, Gov still blocking torture pics, He escalated the Afghanistan war, ignored Climate change, and our shiny new President is covering up the grotesque corruption and crimes of the previous administration, while doing exactly the same thing they did.
We'd have been happy if Obama just tried to do a little cleanup.
Obama just took the baton and kept running.
Same agenda.
Nary a hiccup in the process.
Case in point? Guantanemo's being closed....! And re-opened in Illinois!!!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
There a few things escaping you. Obama, or any other President for that matter, is not his own man. He has to go to Afghanistan because he campaign on it, and because the American weapons industry has to get a bite of the action. If not, we will have another Kennedy. Stop being so naive as to thinking that Obama will get what he wants. He is no dictator. Only dictators get can do that. Wake up!
gotten rid of DADA with the stroke of a pen, yet he did not, even though he said he would. Now he lies about not campaigning about a public option. What do you expect, everyone to roll over and say, "Thank you, may I have another?" Sorry, if he's going to out and out lie, then he better expect to get called on it, and take the consequences and loss of trust.
but your point is a different discussion.
we're talking about how the dems (along with the prez) sold us all out to their corporate masters.
try and keep up, please.
I was beginning to think I was the only one who remembered Bush / Cheney / Rice and the gang of oil criminals.
No kidding, I had to remind an old friend the other day that he could be under McCain right now and watching Palin every ten minutes 24/7.
was that what you were doing during the Bush administration?
I guess Bush/Cheney demonstrated clearly that 1. What the People want doesn't matter. 2. What the People think doesn't matter. 3.The People can't do anything about anything, hahahaha. 4. It just does not matter if the corruption is blatant and loud. People either refuse to believe it, or think they can't do a dammed thing.
I'd like to believe our Gov & Media are wrong, and in for a BIG unpleasant surprise. I hope.
Surely you mean the state controlled mass media propaganda-that's the only "everyone" I see who applaud the fraud.
Ole Barak simply slowed that he is nothing but a run-of-the-mill politician -- looking for someone who can give him a hunk of dough for an immortal soul.
The more I live and see this boy in action, the more I am coming to think that Joe Wilson knew a whole lot more himself than the whole bunch of us did put together.
"boy"? really? Maybe you should think twice before you call someone a boy.
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
"Bless me father for i have sinned. Those crimes that i committed, well, i did 'em again. Empty my soul to empower yours. Lead me blind down the path to salvation's doors."
""boy"? really? Maybe you should think twice before you call someone a boy."
Well, if an adult male human being exhibits behavior that is more appropriate for a male child than it is for an adult male, then I think that the noun "boy" is an appropriate usage.
And I stand by my comment about Joe Wilson.
So, when you say Joe Wilson knew something we didn't, do you mean regarding covering illegal aliens with health care legislation (the specific context in which Wilson yelled, "you lie!"), or are you just supporting a southern right-wing bigot in his disrespectful, indecorous, and inaccurate outburst because you think Obama's dishonest about other things.
> quite a thinker we are
I truly can not agree with you more.
> So, when you say Joe Wilson knew something we didn't,
> [1] do you mean regarding covering illegal aliens with
> health care legislation (the specific context in which
> Wilson yelled, "you lie!"), or [2] are you just
> supporting a southern right-wing bigot in his
> disrespectful, indecorous, and inaccurate outburst
> because you think Obama's dishonest about other things.
To answer your questions: 1. Yes. 2. Yes.
One further point on Question 2: I am not going to take it on your say-so that Joe Wilson is a "southern right-wing bigot". I got to see evidence -- HARD EVIDENCE -- that proves him to be so.
Apparently unlike you, I do not see Barak Obama as the current incarnation of Vishnu. He has to regain some credibility in order for me to take every word he speaks as gospel truth.
I am going on record here as saying that this post is my last word on the subject. I DO enjoy good, honest discussion, but not with the attitude I see in your comment. As far as I am concerned, case closed; mouth sealed shut; I'm out of here.
Seriously? Seriously?
Obama is not behaving like a man.
And he doesn't even look like one anymore.
...seems to be as shady,devious & deceitful as George W and his band of thugs. So along comes Obama with his own Chicago band of thugs...Seems to me Obama is all ego, more giftwrap than gift, more sizzle than steak. What did George W "try" to say..., something like "Fool me once, shame on you..Fool me twice,shame on me....." Obama continues to demonstrate his lack of leadership ability as he hangs on the sidelines and sends others into the eye of the storm, watching to see if they accomplish something that he can take credit for. It is ALL about him, his ego, his image, his legacy,his playing both sides plus the middle so he can try to fool everyone - and not commit himself. His base is devestated, the middle is severely let down. We did not want more of George W..and look what we're getting: More of George W. If Obama doesn't turn this around and show some testicular fortutide, he is out on his a-- in 2012.
Woody McBreairty
What can be worse then a group of characters who got into office promising to change everything, turn it around and instead pull this crap off they are doing.
They make Bush look like he's an honest man.
"They make Bush look like he's an honest man."
I have to agree with you there. And believe me, I NEVER thought I would see the day when I would say anything like that about Bush.
And if you think Obama is worse than Bush I suggest you talk to the families of vets who died in the line of duty and all the others with lifelong disabilities.
I haven't been kind to Obama at all, but to compare him to Bush is obscene.
.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
shallow.
Are you fking serious?
And your just figuring this out?
"Money trumps peace, sometimes." - George W. Bush at a press conference February 14, 2007.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
“If Obama doesn't turn this around and show some testicular fortutide, he is out on his a-- in 2012.”
Sounds like a great idea - but what is the alternative? Sarah Palin? She makes George W. Bush look like a genesis. Isn't she the front runner for the GOP? That's the issue.
Now, in several respects, Obama is no better that Bush. First, the lack of criminal prosecution against the rating agencies that rated the securities containing sub-prime mortgages as AAA, with intent to defraud purchasers of these securities, which allowed the debacle to scale, show a bi-partisanship approach for acquiescence of white collar crime, which has resulted in a multi-trillion dollar ripoff. There is no opposition from corporate lobbyists controlling our politicians, in as much as Goldman Sachs seems to have been rewarded for their contributions with control of the Treasury/Fed. I could go on and on.
But, Obama is better than the Republicans in regard to Supreme Court nominations. Health care reform under the Republicans would likely had gone the way of the McCain proposal. So, there is bad, but then again, there is worse. In fighting "bad", we need "better", not "worse". In fighting this "bad", there is instant runoff, but I can't imagine our current crop of bad versus worse advancing an ability to choose 3rd party choices. So, given our current approach, we have to address the bad Democrats in the primaries. That's the only place I see to get change.
No. Palin's a buffoon and 3 years politically is light years.
Americans better wake the f*ck up and learn how to look thru the glossy, huckster crap or the Reagan "Me" generation will be back to haunt us again.
When I saw Bush, Jr. dragging in Nixon, Reagan and Daddy's cabinet, I said, "Uh ohhhhhhh". Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld worked for 3 failed administrations. Bush decided that out of 7 billion people on Earth we needed to regurgitate Nixon, Reagan and Daddy's vomit and try to swallow it again.
WTF?
refuse to sign this bill, whatever form it ultimately takes. That would be a fine thing for him to stand on principle. Everyone who reads this blog and all the other left leaning blogs knows how committed is the support for the president. The next election is sure to bring even bigger majorities in both the house and the senate. All the blue dogs will voluntarily withdraw from politics and leave their seats to more progressive candidates who cannot fail to be elected because the economy is so strong. And next year in Jerusalem...
Hasa Diga Eebowai
reminds me of someone who said "Read my lips". That guy liked to murder "foreigners" too. It never changes because they're all the same. They're all the same because there is only one type of personality that wants to rule over others.
Well we are waking to reality. No change, no new day; same old, same old. Goodbye Dems in 2010, goodbye Barry in 2012 and I don't even care anymore.
But Merry Christmas, everyone.
I love to smell of defeatism in the morning.
/violin
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
"Bless me father for i have sinned. Those crimes that i committed, well, i did 'em again. Empty my soul to empower yours. Lead me blind down the path to salvation's doors."
You need a reality check.
a certain black man who used a similar phrase. I wonder what the US would look like today if he had said: Hey this shit is tough and went home.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
We will find out as both the Whitehouse and Congress collectively said "Hey this shit is tough" and went home for christmas.
They gave up anything that would truly reduce costs and give people stable heathcare.*
(Having insurance does not equal healthcare...especially with large deductibles)
What happened is this cute little thing called balance of power that constitutes the foundation of this democracy. The President doesn't write legislation, and though he may not have been as staunch a public champion for the...well... public option as we would have wanted, the blame falls only to republicans and conservative dems who fought tooth and nail to strip every progressive initiative out of this bill. Because of their short-sightedness and repugnant obstructionist fatalism, nothing else would have organized enough votes for this to pass. Obama is not a dictator, he's the Executive, and it up to the Congress to deliver a comprehensive healthcare bill. I'm disappointed too, but it's irresponsible to insinuate that it is his fault
Amen
Well, first, I would have to note that when Obama went on the Letterman show last summer, he espoused the same talking points as Max Baucus. It is my opinion that the Baucus plan most closely mirrors the Obama objectives.
That said, there is no point in cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. We know that the teabaggers are going to have, yet again, a near 100% turnout in the 2010 elections to reinstate the status quo that they had under G.W. Bush. So, our side needs to guard against our "half a loaf" disintegrating into "no loaf at all".
That means turning out in the primaries to support progressive/non corporate owned candidates, but in the general election, voting for the lesser evil.
Word.
Big chunks of the left blogosphere have gone entirely nuts in the last few weeks. There's a question at the bottom of this post- "So . . . what happened?"
It seems like the default answer seems to be that Obama is worse than George W. Bush because the health care bill, as it currently stands, doesn't contain a public option. But we all knew, those of us paying attention, by the middle fall, that, due to the fact that the Senate Republicans call a cloture vote every time a Democrat sneezes, 60 votes would be required in the Senate to get any bill passed. Anyone alive during the past decade, at least with a functioning brain, knew that, even if you had 60 Democrats in the Senate, at least two would force any big piece of progressive legislation to get neutered in the direction of it being more "centrist".
Pretending that we care enough about politics to have an iota of sense of what's feasible, it was clear that single-payer wasn't going to happen, not because Obama is a wimp or a corporatist, but because at least 10, if not 20 Dem senators would vote against it. In that sense, it wasn't even something that could be used, at this time, as a bargaining chip, as the public option clearly was. So it was always going to be stuck between a bill that extended the numbers of insured through a combination of regulation, mandate, and exchanges and had a public option that was robust, weak, triggered, substituted for by medicare buy-in or co-op, or absent.
Neither Obama nor Reid had enough leverage on either Lieberman or the lobster caucus to threaten them with anything if they opposed the bill. Show me how they did, please. Unlike Landrieu or Nelson, they couldn't be bought.
I might remind you that the House, facing much more progressive body and more democratic rules, put forward a bill with a weak public option unlikely to cover more than 6 million people, and, on top of it, included the odious Stupak amendment. Not exactly what the folks in these comments probably would be satisfied with either.
The people who feel betrayed here need to grab a little perspective. Politicians are politicians. They don't always tell the truth, they don't always do what we want,and they can't always do what they promise. Oftentimes they are more friendly to Wall Street and vested corporate interests than we'd like. The fact that the Senate bill, and most likely the final bill, isn't going to have a tiny, half-hearted public option for reasons that have much more to do with Collins, Snowe, Nelson, and Liberman than Obama, isn't a very good reason to point all guns at the President and caricature him in a way that helps progressive causes not at all.
My frustration isn't that people aren't kissing Obama's ring and singing Hosannas over here. It's that people are saying things like "Obama is worse than Bush", which is crazy.
YES, thank you. Wow, I'm so glad to finally hear a voice of reason. God, these other people are getting ridiculous "so...what happened?" really Gordonskene? What happened? The goddamn political process happened. This is how it's supposed to work in this country--gradual change which reinforces stability. I mean seriously, you have nutjobs thinking Obama wasn't born in the US or that he's a Muslim or Arab and you honestly think they could've passed a public option through the Senate on the first shot? Wow.
"they could've passed a public option through the Senate on the first shot?"
First thing I would note is, the Senate isn't a democratic institution, democracy being defined as "rule of the majority". That's something that is glossed over in our education. That's why there is a problem with small state Senators, and why we hear such exclamations against "socialized" medicine, but no objections against "socialized" farming, "socialized" telephone service, and currently, "socialized" internet services, designed to subsidize internet in the rural areas. It's all in who the socialism benefits, along with the receipt of corporate lobbying proceeds. It had nothing to do with any principle.
In my opinion, change I can believe in requires electing politicians of the Kucinich ilk. Incidentally, "change you can believe in" is abstract language, from the perspective of a semanticist. Abstract language is the language of politicians, because the listener can't pin down the position being espoused.
Obama: "Every American has the right to affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage. My plan will guarantee coverage through partnerships among employers, private health plans, the federal government and states."
Kucinich: "I am the co-author and co-sponsor of HR 676, the Conyers/Kucinich bill, which will provide for true universal, single-payer health care. All residents of the United States will be fully covered for medical, dental, vision, mental health and long-term care. There will be no deductibles, no co-pays, and no insurance company employees whose job it is to deny you coverage so their company makes more money."
So, so long as people can't make a distinction between abstract language and specific language, we're going to wind up with these results. Kucinich campaigned with the specific language, and Obama with the abstract language. Incidentally, in the general elections, with the result being a forgone choice between only two candidates, I have no regrets voting for Obama, and I'll have no hesitation in turning out again to prevent a greater evil from being elected.
who shall I vote for, Stalin or Hitler?
although a wee bit disgusting is, if you are up to your neck in shit, and someone throws vomit at you, do you duck?
you wrote. But why would Obama lie to us that he didn't campaign on the public option?
If it wasn't Obama's fault that the public option wasn't included in the bill, why did he have to lie?
I really thought Obama thought more about his constituents than to insult their intelligence.
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.
Plato
He didn't lie about the public option, he never lied. He wanted a public option, but it is up to the congress to deliver passed legislation that contains it.
Eff yes. Thank you.
americans get real it is as plain as the egg on your face.
politicans need money lots of it to get and be reelected
who has that money??????
the corp fascists and their lobbyists.
these folks would be nuts to represent the voters of they want to get reelected.
only in a dumbed down nation would the voters believe that politicans have their best interest at heart the way elections are held allowing such donations from the corp capitalists.
give obama credit he got elected all he had to do was give great speechs and promise hope.
and look who he ran against. palin and mc war.
both have proved to be losers and dumber that cat m........
Obama didn't want to fight for it. Sware to god it looks like Obama is some how scared to fight for anything.
has been invaded by Rove's tricksters lately.
Sorry if it's too much for you But I'm not the only one that believes part of the problem is Obama is to scared to put his backside on the line for these issuse. Huffington post did a great story about it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/lea...
What a Christmas present for American progressives that elected you. Shame on you for turning your back on us and while you are better than Bush et al, you have forsaken those who believed in what you campaigned for. It will take a major reversal in what I have seen in this Administration for me to support you in the primaries over someone like Howard Dean (guess the Republicans knew he was a real threat when they cooked up his screaming persona). Yes he is better than Bush but like Bush cannot be trusted to do what he promised he would do.
Jesus Christ, read up about framework of the balance of power
it isn't about what the powers of each branch are...I know what they are. This is about Obama's complete failure to act as a leader and to use the bully pulpit or his office to promote his campaign promises. Whether you agreed with Lyndon Johnson or Ronald Reagan's policies, these were President's who knew how to get their bills passed.
as well who sold us out right and left through the health care fight. Back room deals with the drug companies, insurance companies, and individual states are shameful. A nationwide health insurance with a public option based on Medicare or something similar is what the country needs (in spite of what many who have private coverage think...may they loose their coverage to understand this) but instead blinded by their own gold plated taxpayer coverage they sold out. I would love to see a Constitutional amendment barring anyone in Congress from receiving anything that isn't available to the average citizen in place...only then will we see government that works for us instead of them and big business.
amen to this. It is congress who makes the legislation
Supposed to be a time of peace and all that. Can we just take one day off and not trash Obama? You can always go back to your tantrums on Saturday. No, I didn't really think so.
The familys out so I'm checking in and expected a little holiday spirit for just one day.
of the American people is still as short as the pre Internet era.
The new politician thinks that television continues to be source of dictation to the American people when bi-directional conversation, debate and communication is taking place on the Internet.
The People of the new century are more informed and more connected than at any time in the history of mankind's existence.
New Politicians, get used to it. Double talk will bite you in the ass. It's what you do that will determine who represents us and who is sent packing.
before the stench that Bush left in the White House will go away
Unfortunately, as long as America exists that stank will always be with us.
Let's see how far to the right they go before they fall off of the edge of this flat world.
I was listening to, or reading something that some White House official said Obama never literally promised a Public Option, rather something like that as in a co-op. It seemed to me he had and maybe I was mistaken, but there it is. Amazing isn't it? Screwed again. Maybe the Bill will get better in committee...yeah right. Oh well. I was warned about putting him on a pedestal and that he is no better than any other politician. Maybe all the blame can't be put on Obama? Maybe no President can escape the leash that the true masters of this country place around the neck of any President. The ones who control the flow of wealth are the ones who control the country. Sounds like the Federal Reserve Bank to me.
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
Obama (Oh-bah-mah): 1. Much needed change in Washington. 2. Same old Washington BS politics.
Obama is a fucking liar, just like evey other ass that has been elected president......
Nothing happened.
Obama is full of shit and always has been.
Obama turned into a corporate shill. That's what happened!
Obama hasn't broken any promise on this until he is heading into the final two or three months of re-election year 2012 without having accomplished it. I don't recall any "promise" that he would get that public option or a vialble exchange into healthcare reform "by December 24, 2009", do you?
If he hasn't made it happen by September 2012, they you big babies have every justification to deny him a second term and vote for the Palin/Limbaugh ticket instead.
Meanwhile, don't do everything you can to put roadblocks in front of any further efforts to make it happen by staying home next November, not voting for Democrats and ensuring a McConnnell/Boehner controlled Congress because you've bought the Republican/Mainstream Media meme that "both sides are equally to blame for these disasters" and "it doesn't matter which party is in office".
Then YOU have dropped the ball in response to corporate pressures and money more egregiously than any politician.
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