Obama Still Dodgy on Public Option

[villager]

Obama Still Dodgy on Public Option

By Jonathan Allen

As his White House aides were telling reporters yet again on Tuesday that President Barack Obama will not insist on a government-backed insurance agency, his political aides were using the prospect of the so called public option to raise money from Democrats who support it.

Beyond the money, the president's political Web site is an organizing hub for a nationwide network of public option vigils scheduled for tonight.

It's a political paradox that pits private provocation against prudish public posturing.

And who knows, maybe it will work -- at the very least, Obama will have kept his activists activated and his campaign arm funded.

But the president never fully embraced the public option and he and his aides have been distancing Obama from it for weeks. In his words, it is "one of the best ways" to address changing the health care system, but certainly not the only one.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was rebuked by liberal Democrats in July for suggesting that the public option should only be triggered if tougher competition in the private marketplace doesn't produce lower costs. But nothing he said contradicted the president.

Still, Organizing for America is going full steam ahead with the public option, and House Democratic aides, still hopeful, say they haven't seen Obama stick a knife in it. Here's what OFA director Mitch Stewart wrote in a fundraising e-mail Tuesday: "Real reform will bring down costs, create more choices -- including the choice of a public option -- and guarantee access to health care for all of us."

So, does the president believe "real reform" includes a public option as his campaign arm says -- and Democrats for decades have believed -- or that it's not an essential component, as his government-backed advisers suggest?

There must be an explanation -- but not yet. Maybe the president's plan to get more specific on health care will clarify.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/notepad/2009/09/obama-still-dodgy-on-public-op.html

[DebbieCDC]

1. I got their stinking email this morning asking for money

Needless to say, what they got back was an earful from me and it sure as hell didn't include any $$

[IndianaGreen]

2. Being asked for money from the same crowd that kept Single Payer off the table

is as insulting as being asked to bail out the same banks that have raised our credit card fees and rates.

[emilyg]

7. +10

[drm604]

3. From what I've been able to tell

the sole original source for the most recent "will not insist on a public option" meme is Politico. Take this with a LARGE grain of salt, considering the source.

[PeaceDreamer]

4. Obama is making the wrong moves

what is Obama thinking??

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Would Senator Obama have supported

the public option? I think he would have, that's why I think Obama wants a public option now. I wish he would come out for it, if for no other reason than to reassure his base. The Republicans have no problem catering to their base.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Obama supported Single Payer when he ran for US Senate

How times change!