It’s My Fault, Too

Posted on 09/03/2009 at 2:26 pm by Bob Cesca

I have to genuflect before Chris Bowers’ snarky rant about single-payer advocacy. Nicely put, sir.

Like Bowers, my position remains that the best strategy to achieve single-payer Medicare-style national health insurance program is through a robust public option. The public option and single-payer aren’t mutually exclusive.

And like Bowers, I’m seriously at my breaking point temper-wise in dealing with people who insist that my strong public option position proves that I somehow hate the notion of single-payer. This, of course, is ridiculous.

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  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    I fell you on that one, Bob. I’m in favor of single-payer too, but without some kind of evolution towards it you’re just going to shock the system too much and hurt the chances of passage.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    Here’s my advice to the single-payer advocates:Obama has far too much on his plate right now. Once we get the economy on track, get health-care reform (with a public option) passed, we get the withdrawal from Iraq underway, the situation improves in Afghanistan, DOMA/DADT repealed, and get past the mid-term elections, we can start to think about proposing government single-payer health care. It would cost too much political capital right now and pushing it too hard will jeopardize the entire agenda.Sit down. Be quiet. Wait your turn.

  • Eric

    What Nano said.

  • Canadian Simon

    I’m an advocate for single-payer myself, but i do find this assertion by Chris Bowers (whose piece Bob links to) a little dubious:”…It is common knowledge that there is an unstoppable corps of left-wing activists who can force Congress into passing left-wing legislation….”Really? Unstoppable?

  • Canadian Simon

    Oh, apparently Bowers was “snarking.” Sorry, my reading comprehension skills this afternoon are comparable to that of the Teabaggers…

  • Eric

    (Simon – you are head and shoulders above the ‘baggers, in that, within the space of 3 minutes, you were able to detect your error and correct it. Compared to the ‘baggers, that puts you at least one rung up the evolutionary ladder…)

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxec5kSS3pM Terri

    Yes! It’s your fault too! Get on the right side of history.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxec5kSS3pM

  • http://tarackian.deviantart.com J M Ashby

    Passing a public option seems to be enough trouble. Revisit the notion of single-payer during a second term after a public option is proven successful.

  • Kat

    What Eric said.

  • skylights

    “The best strategy to achieve single-payer Medicare-style national health insurance program is through a robust public option.”Yeah, me too. Paradoxically, though, the best strategy to achieve a robust public option is to advocate single-payer health care. It moves the entire conversation to the left and turns the public option into a moderate compromise– which, in any sane world, it would be.But it’s a little late for that. Progressives weren’t aware of the concept of the Overton window and now our big chance has passed us by. When will we learn to demand, to DEMAND our agenda be enacted whole hog, like the Republicans do?