Obama will try to sell something called health care reform to the nation next week in an address to Congress. The Lover Not a Fighter appears to have replaced his tepid support for a public option with support for "competition and choice," whatever that means. Or in the words of Axelrod: "The spirit that led him to support a public option is still very much at play here and so you know he wants competition. He wants choice."
So there's even more talk than usual of Obama kicking liberals to the curb. So what else is new? We got kicked to the curb by this Democratic Administration a long time ago, anyone who doubts it hasn't been paying attention.
Jane Hamsher points out that on health care too, liberals and the American people were already kicked:
Of course he's not going to include a public option -- as DC's beltway class well knows, it's been gone for a long time. Those who deluded themselves into thinking he would veto a bill that didn't have one were -- well, deluded. Rahm and the Baucus Caucus dealt the public option away months ago in order to keep stakeholers at the negotiating tables, and from filling the coffers of Republicans in 2010. . .
For us, the question becomes: what are we going to do? How much do we care, how hard are we going to push Democrats in the House, elected by solid Democratic majorities, to stand up to this railroading and defend the public option?
There are 55 members in D+10 districts who have not said that they will vote against any bill that does not have a strong public option. For me, sitting by and watching them help to bailout PhRMA and the insurance industry on the backs of the middle class, just when people are struggling to find decent jobs in the midst of a recession, is not an option.
"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care program. A single-payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. That's what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we've got to take back the White House, we've got to take back the Senate, and we've got to take back the House."
Update: White House Floating "Snowe" Trigger
White House Admits the Public Option is Gone, Will Sistah Soulja the Left
Will Obama kick us to the curb? (Update, X2)
If Public Option Isn't Dead, Why Is Axelrod Referring to Its "Spirit"?
