Obama: I did not campaign on the public option

[Faeelin]

"Nowhere has there been a bigger gap between the perceptions of compromise and the realities of compromise than in the health-care bill," Obama said. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill."

In listing those priorities, he cited the 30 million uninsured Americans projected to receive coverage, estimated savings of more than $1 trillion over the next two decades, a "patients' bill of rights on steroids," and tax breaks to help small businesses pay for employee coverage.

Those elements are in the House and Senate versions of the legislation; their competing proposals will have to be reconciled in conference committee next year. The House bill includes a government-run insurance plan favored by progressive Democrats; the Senate version does not. "I didn't campaign on the public option," Obama said in the interview.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122202101.html

So, I'm curious. I have mixed feelings about the statement; my gut reaction is that it's pretty sleazy, and comes off as Obama trying to distance himself from a cornerstone of his initial proposal that proved impossible, and is an effort to rewrite history. On the other hand....

I'm having trouble seeing the other hand. So I'm curious what people think. This isn't a comment on the merits of a public option, per se; it's rather a question of what people think of Obama as a politician.

[Sheilbh]

So, I'm curious. I have mixed feelings about the statement; my gut reaction is that it's pretty sleazy, and comes off as Obama trying to distance himself from a cornerstone of his initial proposal that proved impossible, and is an effort to rewrite history. On the other hand....

On the other hand he didn't campaign on the public option.  In fact of the three primary candidates his was the most incrementalist health-care proposal.  The Senate bill is pretty close to what he campaigned on and, if anything, slightly to the left.

Edit:  Actually he did call for a public plan during the general election but not during the primaries when Edwards published his plan and then got Clinton and Obama to publish their's.

Edit-Edit:  Reading a bit more Edwards and Clinton both supported a public plan; Obama's scheme had one but it was only for people who were self-employed or in very small companies.  The theory, I imagine, being that employers would buy insurance for people in bigger companies and the very poor could get medicaid.

[DGuller]

One other thing he didn't campaign on is individual mandate.  That was quite stupid, and I'm glad he changed his mind.

[Sheilbh]

One other thing he didn't campaign on is individual mandate.  That was quite stupid, and I'm glad he changed his mind.

That's what I'm thinking about in terms of the Senate bill being slightly to the left.

[Strix]

Just drink the Obama-Aid and enjoy the ride. Is that too much to ask?

[Fate]

So, I'm curious. I have mixed feelings about the statement; my gut reaction is that it's pretty sleazy, and comes off as Obama trying to distance himself from a cornerstone of his initial proposal that proved impossible, and is an effort to rewrite history.

When was the public option ever possible beyond progressive fairyland? All along Lieberman has publically opposed it, while Baucus was consistent in saying that he did not believe the Senate could pass a bill that contained such a program.

[Caliga]

pretty sleazy...Obama

[KRonn]

He seems to strongly favor a single payer system, govt system, but of course says it may not be realistic (yet) due to all the jobs and the place of the insurance industry.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/08/19/obama-touts-single-payer-system/

Obama Touts Single-Payer System for Health Care

Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader coverage evolves over time.

"If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system," Obama told some 1,800 people at a town-hall style meeting on the economy.

A single-payer system would eliminate private insurance companies and put a Medicare-like system into place where the government pays all health-care bills with tax dollars.

Many liberals have long embraced the coverage plan, saying it would cover everyone, take the profit out of health insurance and allow for greater efficiencies. But Republicans cringe at such deep government involvement in the private sector, calling it socialized medicine. And many Democrats, including Obama and former rival Hillary Clinton, have taken a much more moderate approach.

Obama's health-care plan aims for universal coverage by offering a new government-run marketplace where Americans could buy insurance, mostly from private plans. He would offer subsidies to individuals and to small business owners that offer their workers coverage. His plan also would require that parents get insurance for their kids. And he aims to lower health-care costs to make coverage more affordable. His plan includes one small step toward single payer. His new marketplace would create a new government-run plan, like Medicare, to compete against the private plans.

But Obama repeated that he rejects an immediate shift to a single-payer system. "Given that a lot of people work for insurance companies, a lot of people work for HMOs. You've got a whole system of institutions that have been set up," he said at a roundtable discussion with women Monday morning after a voter asked, "Why not single payer?"

"People don't have time to wait," Obama said. "They need relief now. So my attitude is let's build up the system we got, let's make it more efficient, we may be over time—as we make the system more efficient and everybody's covered—decide that there are other ways for us to provide care more effectively." [\quote]

[Martinus]

You gotta respect the guy. He pretty much fucked everybody over: the public option, repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell, Defense of Marriage Act, ending the war in Iraq and/or Afghanistan etc. - he went back on everything.

[Razgovory]

Especially the things he didn't say he'd do.

[Syt]

He's like The Smiler.

[Fate]

You gotta respect the guy. He pretty much fucked everybody over: the public option, repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell, Defense of Marriage Act, ending the war in Iraq and/or Afghanistan etc. - he went back on everything.

He did not run on the public option.

He promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

We're getting out of Iraq.

Who the fuck cares about gay issues? You'll vote Republican anyway once you get your "rights."

[Admiral Yi]

He promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

That's being charitable.

[Faeelin]

He did not run on the public option.

http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200911190006

[Fate]

He promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

That's being charitable.

How so? I remember Republicans during the general election attacking Obama because he was too bellicose when it came to prosecuting the war against the Taliban in Waziristan.