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Then:
"I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. . . A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House."
(Emphasis added)
Barack Obama. June 30, 2003. h/t to SingleVoter
More below the fold.
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Then:
"For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.
"Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.
"You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country."
Barack Obama, Democratic Party Nomination Acceptance Speech, August 28, 2008.
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Then:
"Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most."
Barack Obama, Democratic Party Nomination Acceptance Speech, August 28, 2008.
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Yes, that was back then. Back when we knew we'd found a politician who'd fight for us. A "New Bobby Kennedy". An opened-minded and pragmatic politician, but a politician who wouldn't compromise their core principles or toss us -- the people who believed in him -- overboard once he got into office. A politician who would stand up to the Corporate Behemoths and Neo-Robber Barons.
It was about damn time, we thought.
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Now:
"Obama was asked why a 'single payer' plan–where the government makes payments directly to medical care providers–isn’t on the table.
"He said the nation has a tradition of employer-based health care using private insurance companies, and that a lot of people [] are satisfied with it."
May 2009
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Now (from Obama's HHS Secretary):
"Well, again, I think that having these ideas on the table is exactly where we need to be right now," Sebelius said on CNN Sunday when asked about Conrad's proposal.
The North Dakota Democrat, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, suggested the establishment of public co-ops in place of a public (or "government-run") plan for consumers. Republicans and centrist Democrats have balked at supporting the public plan.
Source
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I can't find the quote and will rely on others to, but I recall seeing President Obama in an interview -- within the past week or so -- saying that he's "interested in looking at" (or words to that effect) Conrad's Co-op Plan. Gad.
Here's Howard Dean on the Conrad's Co-ops:
"This is a big mistake," former Gov. Howard Dean told the Huffington Post. "These co-ops will be very weak. Many won't have the half-million members that most experts think is necessary to influence the market... Insurance companies will be licking their lips."
"I am very fond of Senator Conrad and think he is a good guy and friend," Dean added. "But I think the basic problem, as the Senate often does, is that they are worried about the internal Senate politics rather than the type of solution the American people want."
Source
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Is the President caving? We know that Single Payer's off the table. We're now seeing a wavering on the Public Option. Co-ops? Co-ops are subject to being captured by the very industries they're supposedly, theoretically in "competition with", electric co-ops being the prime example.
So what's going on, Mr. President? Depending on the poll, 75 or 76% of the American people want a Public Option. You say you "don't have the votes" in the Senate? Well get the votes. Lead, Mr. President. Lead.
And keep your promises.
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Thanks Kos & Nate UPDATE:
Right now (2:23 p.m. Central) kos' Midday Open Thread is up. One of the featured stories is this from Nate Silver, to wit: Obama has been too cautious on health care.
"This has been an extremely cautious White House to date; they have scrupulously avoided doing anything that might ruffle Congressional or public feathers and they are probably afraid of gambling on a specific plan and losing. But as Neville Chamberlain learned long ago, and Spock learned in the latest version of Star Trek, caution does not always equate with safety. It is time for the White House to take hold of this debate and not let go."
Big thanks and h/t to kos. I'll consider this validation of this diary from the best in the business: Nate Silver.
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UPDATE II: I think that one of NeuvoLiberal's comments below is worth highlighting. This responds to those (not many, but a few) who advocate a passive, mewling, "but-the-President-can't-do-anything" whine in place of Presidential Leadership; take it away, N'Liberal:
"If he can draw the bottom line that single payer was off the table, why can't he draw the bottom line on the other side, i.e. that he would veto any reform bill that doesn't provide a real public plan?"
Emphasis in original quote
That sums it up rather well, I believe. Thanks, NeuvoLiberal.
BenGoshi
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