President Obama, if you are going to pass health reform without 'bipartisan support' - do it RIGHT

[debbierlus]

I was thrilled to hear you finally stand up and say that health reform for the American people trumps 'bipartisanship' (what a bs term as the other side never GIVES, only takes, and uses democratic refusal to dictate the terms as unfair. ENOUGH).

Good for you.

The only risk you run by bypassing the b.s. bipartisanship is that the democrats will solely and totally own it. It will be YOUR bill.

So, make it a good one. One with a REAL public option. Or better yet, come out for single payer and lead the revolution against the corporate screwing of America.

A bad bill will be worse for everyone (especially for you politically), then no reform at all.

You have it in you. LEAD.

Really, truly LEAD.

And, it really won't be hard at all. All you have to do is do the RIGHT thing.

The choice is yours.

[babylonsister]

1. Now there's the difference between you and me. I reckon he's always

trying to do the right thing. I've seen nothing to negate that.

[T Wolf]

2. Maybe doing what HE thinks is the right thing. Others may have a different goal. nt

[debbierlus]

3. His actions do not support that type of faith

Closed door meetings with the major players in the health insurance game since February. Refusal to even discuss single payer (a bargaining chip that could have been used to get a very strong public option and open the door for the expansion of the single payer system).

I judge Obama by his actions. Not his words.

And, there have been plenty of actions that justify real concern. Actions that would instill outrage, if executed by a Republican politician.

I have that type of Kucinich. And, Bernie Sanders is a pretty straight shooting guy. The heros that appear on the front page in the top left video corner. Those people I will give more trust, simply because they have earned it.

I would LOVE Obama to be the leader he could be, if he would break loose and fight. I hope he does. I truly, truly do.

His success would be our success.

[babylonsister]

4. And you aren't telling the truth. You've had this argument over and

over and over again. Google DU. Many meetings have been open-doored on cspan, and you know it. As for single payer, look it up, again. I've posted why he thinks it's a better program but he couldn't justify destroying a base we have going as far as health care. He's had so much to contend with, this is a president who is fearless, doing this during the ongoing crises.

He knows what his success means, as do I. Have some faith. And I'm not religious, but this is happening this year.

[masuki bance]

5. What's happening this year? Public option? Co-op?

Public option now, or in 2014? Public option in 2014, or a trigger for the option to go into effect? What type of public option? What type of co-op? Will there be an employer mandate? Individual mandate? How about revenue, where will the revenue come from?

etc, etc..

[babylonsister]

7. Who knows? Not you or I. But some form of health care reform is

going to finally happen, and can be built upon. If Dems demand and want it instead of protesting about "what ifs".

[babylonsister]

8. Darn, no response tonight. Just bookmarking this. nt

[masuki bance]

12. There's nothing to respond to. nt

[dflprincess]

10. We have a good base for single payer - it's called Medicare

the private for profit insurance base we have for the rest of the system is rotten and needs to be destroyed.

What worries me is even Obama has stopped calling it health CARE reform and started talking about health INSURANCE reform - and what we're hearing so far is that the "reform" will be designed to shore up a broken system by guaranteeing the insurance companies still keep raking in profits and politicians keep collecting those bribes. The plans as written - especailly HR3200, with their big out of pockets (increasing with income) and potentially high premiums don't do a whole lot to improve access to health care - but they do improve the for profits' access to our wallets.

[dionysus]

6. reality phone rings and says single payer won't even be backed by enough democrats to pass.

and you know that damn well as a fact.

[paulk]

19. yes, of course

but the disappointment comes from Obama's refusal to even let single payer have a seat at the table.

[depakid]

11. "I've seen nothing to negate that."

Wish I could say the same.

Thus far his Justice Department is a world class disgrace. I know, we need to give it about another year- but thus far, Wow.

[Occam Bandage]

9. He said "without bipartisan support," not "without Congress."

I don't think we could get more than 35 votes in the Senate for single-payer, even if Obama went on TV and said that he would shoot Bo if single-payer didn't pass.

[Cali_Democrat]

13. I think you're forgetting about those idiots called the BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS

They can kill health care reform in one second and there ain't a damn thing Obama could do about it.

[depakid]

15. Last time I counted, there were almost double the number in the progressive caucus than blue dogs

Strike me dead for doing arithmetic.

[Cali_Democrat]

17. Well they can still kill health care reform if they wanted to

That's the thing about the Senate, it only takes a small number of Senators to kill legislation.

[earth mom]

14. Obama could use some pointers from Al Gore. nt

[cali]

16. on what?

[earth mom]

18. Like how to NOT kiss corporate ass and HOW to get shit done. nt