More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday. A new study by SurveyUSA puts support for a public option at a robust 77 percent, one percentage point higher than where it stood in June. – Huffington Post
I’ll leave the polling to experts, but maybe this is why liberals have been raising money like mad off of Kathleen Sebelius’s “not essential” public option blooper. Oh right, she “misspoke”. But at least she can do something right. Put money in the pockets of progressive legislators who are standing up for a public option. It’s making news everywhere. Even Terry McAuliffe is getting in on the act, but more on that in a minute.
Maybe Pres. Obama’s latest dismissal of the people who put him in office will do the same. From The Hill:
President Barack Obama said Thursday that despite “hand-wringing” by liberals and the media, he guarantees healthcare reform will pass.
Obama, appearing on conservative radio host Michael Smerconish’s show live from the White House, also defended his Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, for remarks she made last week.
Yeah, can’t have any of those “hand-wringing” liberals messing up your messaging, even though we’re the ones giving Congress the backing to yank you and your crew back on track.
We criticize and bitch a lot about Congress not doing enough, so when they stand up we should stand behind them.
The Obama and Sebelius comments during the weekend reignited liberal fears. In a joint letter, the Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus scolded Sebelius for her comments. And they attached the 60-signature letter. – Left flexes muscles on healthcare reform
It’s got to be obvious by now that Obama won’t get Republicans to sign on. They’re posturing, so Obama postures back. But he’s also taking shots at liberals, including the “hand-wringing” remark over the public option, even though we’ve got more support for the public option than he does on his ideas. What are they again? Oh right, he’s waiting for Congress to tell him, which is why Democratic voters have risen up, even as Obama uses his own base to woo the right and separate himself from us icky liberals, even though the right is gone for this President, as are many Independents.
The tell at how badly Obama was missing this political fight came when he ceded the stage to Sarah Palin after her “death squeal” rant, the President pumping oxygen into the wingnuts tent by the ton through publicizing Palin’s message.
On the activist side, we’ve got Matthew Yglesias who evidently thinks it’s better to reveal what he’ll accept, before anyone has shown us what we’ll have to swallow, joining the Ezra Klein contingent.
Classic statement by Big Tent Democrat:
I do not think Matt, or Ezra Klein, or Kevin Drum, or Paul Starr are closet Blue Dogs, but I DO think, in terms of political bargaining, they DO represent well why Democrats and progressives are the worst political bargainers I have ever seen. More . . .
Look, I have negotiated civil litigation settlements for 20 years. The one thing you never can do, ever, is state beforehand what you are willing to accept as a final result of a negotiation. Advising political negotiators to do so is simply stupid. It just is.
However, I do think some in this argument are indeed Blue Dogs. You can tell by the way they fight. Compromise is the first tenet of their code.
We don’t have Hillary, with Bill already caving to the “we’ve got to get a bill” White House contingent, but we’ve got Terry. McAuliffe that is. Via NotLarrySabato:
Terry’s agreed to host a fundraiser with Virginia and national bloggers who are insisting on a public option for the first Virginia Congressman who will take our pledge!
“Health care was a key issue on which we all campaigned so hard for in 2008, and I’m happy to see that progressive bloggers are working to ensure we take advantage of this historic opportunity to get the reform we need. Now is the time to act. Our elected officials in Congress should insist on including a public option.” – Terry McAuliffe
Goes to show up an old Democratic dog can learn new tricks; aided by a painful lesson learned in the presidential primaries of 2008.
Good for Terry. This is how we get it done.
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