Obama campaigned for single payer? I don't remember it that way.

[yallerdawg]

It was (is?) a pretty consistent right-wing meme to matter-of-factly associate Obama's campaign position (and present intention) to implement single-payer universal government-controlled health care.

One of the reasons so many supported Hillary in that 2008 primary, she proposed a more comprehensive health care plan, but it was still not universal single-payer, but mandated private insurance. Remember?

June 29, 2009 FactCheck.org

On “Meet the Press” on June 28, former presidential candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney falsely claimed that President Obama had called for a “single-payer” health care system on the campaign trail:

Romney: President Obama, when he was campaigning, said he wanted a single-payer system.

We debunked this falsehood when Sen. John McCain said it during the third presidential debate. McCain claimed that “as he said, his object is a single payer system.” But as a presidential candidate, Obama didn’t say that at all. And the plan he proposed wasn’t a single-payer system, one in which everyone is covered by health insurance through the government. As we said in our Oct. 16 article, Obama said at a town hall meeting in Albuquerque last summer that a single payer system would “probably” be his first choice “if” he were “designing a system from scratch.” But instead, he said, his “attitude is let’s build up the system we got, let’s make it more efficient, we may be over time – as we make the system more efficient and everybody’s covered – decide that there are other ways for us to provide care more effectively.”

Obama was really pretty consistent with skepticism about our ability to pass a single payer option:

If I were starting a system from scratch, then I think that the idea of moving towards a single-payer system could very well make sense. That’s the kind of system that you have in most industrialized countries around the world.

The only problem is that we’re not starting from scratch. We have historically a tradition of employer-based health care. And although there are a lot of people who are not satisfied with their health care, the truth is, is that the vast majority of people currently get health care from their employers and you’ve got this system that’s already in place. We don’t want a huge disruption as we go into health care reform where suddenly we’re trying to completely reinvent one-sixth of the economy.

From July 16, 2009 PolitiFact

In other statements, Obama has spoken favorably of single-payer in concept, but always adding qualifiers:

In February 2004, about a month before the primary election in the U.S. Senate race, the Associated Press reported the stance of all the candidates on universal health care. "Obama says he supports the idea of universal health care but does not think a single-payer government system is feasible. He says the government should be the health care provider of last resort for the uninsured." In a rundown of all the candidates' positions, the Associated Press summarized Obama's position as "Support, but 'probably not at this stage,' a single-payer government system."

In his book The Audacity of Hope, published in October 2006 when he was a U.S. senator, Obama described single-payer as the hope of the left, while those on the right wanted a market-based approach. "It's time we broke this impasse by acknowledging a few simple truths," Obama wrote, suggesting a system much like the one he supports today.

In April 2007, a few months after he declared his candidacy for presidency, the Chicago Tribune reported, "Obama has pledged that, if elected, all Americans would have health-care coverage by the end of his first term. He has said he is reluctant to switch to a 'single-payer' national health insurance system because of the difficulty in making a quick transition from the employer-based private system."

At his town halls as president, he routinely answers questions about single-payer by saying he would favor it if he were starting a system "from scratch." But he consistently adds that's not the goal of the current reform. "For us to transition completely from an employer-based system of private insurance to a single-payer system could be hugely disruptive, and my attitude has been that we should be able to find a way to create a uniquely American solution to this problem that controls costs but preserves the innovation that is introduced in part with a free-market system," Obama said in Annandale, Va., on July 1, 2009.

[Hekate]

1. Oh those pesky facts. Is someone at DU complaining again about "broken" promises?

Happy for today's victory. Woot!

[NCTraveler]

2. I have heard him speak favorably to single payer.

Never heard him campaign on it nor have I heard many people who matter say he campaigned on it.

[Oilwellian]

3. I remember it quite well

It's not that hard to find several supporting comments he made on the campaign trail.

[yallerdawg]

8. This 2003 53 seconds is what you remember?

Any obscure edit of footage or edited comment out of context to the specifics is now what we hang our hat on to justify condemning an entire presidency?

I wish it were politically possible to have universal coverage in America. Similar to Medicare, Medicaid, S-Chip, all the federally funded coverage we collectively pay for now without exceptions and private insurance supplements. As Obama said, we get it started and maybe in 10, 15, 20 years we will get there.

Do you not see what Obama has been up against for the last 6 1/2 years and we have the Republican plan for expanded private health insurance?

[Rex]

13. So someone shows you a clip proving you wrong and you move the goal posts?

And only YOU are pretending we need to condemn an entire presidency. I see no one else doing likewise.

[yallerdawg]

15. You see a clip proving me wrong?

Are you talking about the 'title' in the corner, cause the 'clip' does not prove me wrong.

If you read the citations I provided in the OP, this 'clip' is addressed.

Obama's presidency isn't condemned on DU?

Welcome to DU!

Look around. You'll see.

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. The claim is bullshit. Many Obama detractors have posited that lie over the years.

[PoliticAverse]

5. What he campaigned on was a plan that included a "public option". n/t

[Oilwellian]

6. Oh look...here's another time he campaigned for it

The thing is, Obama campaigned for it until he became president. Then he changed his mind and supported the public option. That's the point, he said one thing on the campaign trail, and then changed his position once he was put in office. That's what he's done throughout his presidency.

[yallerdawg]

9. If you watch this video...

lots of qualifiers to are included, as 'fact check' included.

Every liberal progressive Democrat wants universal government-provided health care. Good health care. Affordable health care.

Hillary and Obama both campaigned on what we could possibly get, not the 'wish.'

[Rex]

14. On DU, you can show people something their eyes cannot lie to them about

and they will still pretend you are wrong...because, just because.

THIS is why DU is really hard to take seriously anymore.

[yallerdawg]

16. Obviously, you didn't watch the clip.

He qualifies (look at OP) how we can achieve the goals.

[Prism]

7. He campaigned on a public option and against mandates

But we are where we are, and there's no point bothering about it now.

I just want to know when later will be in that "We'll fix it later!" refrain. Maybe after this SCOTUS decision, Congress will actually bother. If we have to wait until we have Democratic supermajorities, we'll be waiting awhile.

[Orsino]

10. If only. n/t

[geek tragedy]

11. there remain some people who are determined to overstay their visas while

residing in Fantasyland.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. DU

He said single payer is the ideal but wasn't possible in the current political environment.


The ideal would be for me to eat pizza, chips, and ice cream all day and not get diabetes, obese, or heart disease.

[raouldukelives]

17. Some people, even some posters here, are good at saying things.

Without ever really saying them. If you know what I'm saying. I'm not sure I do.