New Member of the Coalition

So. Yesterday Obama gets on national TV and says he wants a public option-to shut us up I assume. Then a few hours later Emanuel is running around undermining what Obama just said a few hours earlier? So Obama just stood up there and lied?What other ALTERNATIVE is there? A Co op?This is just ridiculous.

Bob,Emanuel doesn’t have that meting, and doesn’t say those words without Obama’s approval. Don’t kill the messenger.

I think there is a heck of a lot of misinformation floating around this debate.

The other possibility, that Conrad is lying (or heard what he wanted to hear, no matter what Emmanuel said), is very real…

It certain ups the stakes for tonight’s healthcare special on abcnews. It also ups the ante of today’s press briefing. Let’ see if one of the “reporters” asks this question. When I first read this, it pissed me off. Then I thought, perhaps Rahm is only right technically. As Obama said yesterday, if there’s a plan that will do what a public plan does, he’s happy to listen to it. Perhaps he was saying that he knows the coop bullshit is just that. Let’s hope so for all our sakes!

I agree with PPP, this comes from Obama, not Emanuel. Obama is Emanuel’s boss. Emanuel won’t be the one signing the bill into law. That’s Obama.I really think everyone’s jumping the gun. I’m freaked out about this too but I can’t imagine Obama signing anything that doesn’t include affordable health coverage for all, whether it’s a public option(which obviously makes the most sense) or a compromise we haven’t yet thought of. It would be such a defeat, Obama knows that and he doesn’t want it. We will prevail. We have to. There’s no other choice.These guys say one thing in public and another behind closed doors.

Here’s what I do know, if the public option is dropped, no Democrat will receive any more of my money for 2010 or 2012 and none of them receive my vote. This is the big issue for me. This is the one that, for me, if it doesn’t get passed, I no longer have any stake in which party occupies what office.I voted for Nader in 2000 and regretted that ever since. I’ve made all the arguments to a lot of people about judicial appointments and our standing in the world and having someone in the white house or congress who would at least discuss the things important to us rather than just dismiss them or demean them. But honestly, in the end, it doesn’t matter if they were nice or they were dicks if health care for all doesn’t happen.

I think you are all forgetting a couple of thinks.# 1, Pres. Obama is always and has always been very under rated when it comes to his way of handling things. Remember the campaign? How many times and how many ways did EVERYONE say he had lost to Hillary & McCain both and look where he is.# 2, If Pres. Obama came out strongly and said he was for a Public Option and that he would veto any bill that did NOT have it included, that would guarantee there would be NO republican support and probably some democratic support would go by the wayside too. I think he is playing this very close to his vest. I don’t believe he said this, I don’t believe Rahm said this. I can believe they said there could be compromises. But, I don’t see losing the Public Option all together. I didn’t hear that from what I heard this morning on GMA when he was talking to Diane Sawyer, and I don’t expect we will hear that tonight when they have the town hall from the White House.Just know that # 2 is the one thing you can count on, ANYTHING that POTUS says he is 100% for, There will automatically be 100% of the Republicans and some of the Dems who would be against it.

I’m with Annette, esp. on #2: This isn’t actually a back track at all from what he said in his presser–he said he was open to all ideas. So am I. But it doesn’t mean that if your idea sucks I’m going to go with it. I will say, the two times (that I can think of) so far in his presidency that President Obama has come out strongly in favor of something “controversial” (stimlus and Gitmo), he got shut down with a quickness.

Annette, I hope you’re right. I’m not giving up yet, I’m just saying this is not just another issue for me. No Republicans are going to vote for this or any other bill no matter how much the Dems cave to them. Haven’t the Dems learned that lesson yet? No, they haven’t because they’re obviously morons. That is what every Democrat who is for the public option should be saying to every microphone within reach. They have compromised with Republicans and gotten nothing. America overwhelmingly wants this and they deserve to have it. They need to challenge the Republicans to explain to Americans why we are all, including the majority of their own party, wrong about wanting to be able to be alive.I wish more Americans who do want this would ban together and speak the language the politicians speak–dollars and votes. How clogged do our ERs need to get before we’re ready to act? How many people have to die unnecessarily before we’re willing to go all out?

But it isn’t just republicans. It is also the so called Blue Dogs who might as well be republicans.. they would go against POTUS just as much if he came out strong..Thats why they are ignoring the polls and the people who want the public option, they don’t care what their constituents want..they are getting the money from insurance and no one can afford to run against them. So they do what they want.And they are afraid of the republicans. If they give in to the POTUS, the republicans will pick them off in the next election, that’s what they are afraid of..idiots that they are.

@Annette: plus the Blue Dogs and the Reps have the media on their side. So people can be sitting in their houses, knowing they want a public option, and believing that no one else does, so why bother fighting for it. That’s what has the Dems running scared–they know that no matter what they do, they do not control the media cycle.Case in point: Today every headline is about how Pres. Obama “upped” his rhetoric about Iran. Rachel did a great segment last night with Sec. Albright on how he’s basically said, almost word for word, the exact same thing since the second day of the protests. And yet, suddenly he’s “listening to McCain” and “finally putting on pressure.” And his calling the press on their ridiculousness is seen as his “elite arrogance.”

I was just telling someone about Rahm’s book and saying that there is no way that he would not push Obama towards a public option. I stand by that assessment.There must be something else going on here.

You guys are blowing this statement out of proportion. This is no different than what Obama has been doing during this debate: he has closed no doors on anyone in Congress whether he agrees with them or not.Chill the Fuck Out!

here’s an update

Conrad says Emanuel was speaking in reference to the need to overhaul the health care system as a whole — to forge compromise and get a bill to the president’s desk. It was in no way a comment on the president’s willingness to do away with a public option.

That from the huffpost

I think everyone is on edge and ready to read a lot more into things than are there.. everyone wants to see the worst right now.That’s why I said, we need to just slow down a little and remember that we have to learn to trust but verify our President again.

It’s hard to chill the fuck out, and I’m not sure if I want to. I’m not sure if chilling out is any different than resting on laurels. In fact, as long as there is a real possibility of a public option, now is when we should be making the most noise to help push the agenda away from the media’s version of things, away from the Republican distortions and lies. We shouldn’t wait until we lose momentum to get upset and try to cobble together a movement.Nothing we can do will be enough until we have the public option.

For your consideration:http://www.below-the-fold.com/2009/06/hes-got-this-healthcare-edition/#respond