Obama should strike this deal with Republicans: Give up the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% and in return Democrats will agree to cut health care expenditures by 20-30%.
How can he do this? By agreeing to modify Obamacare by putting in the "public option" which eliminates the useless insurance "middleman" and its 20-30% of the cost of health care. Obama gets his tax revenue increases, and Obamacare is "modified" and improved by the public option, and its attendant savings.
And we -- the ones who voted for Obama -- will need to step up big time to put pressure on Congress to adopt the public option.
To me this strategy seems perfect for Obama - it's that "jujitsu" strategy that, according to David Corn of Mother Jones, Obama actually used last year in the debt ceiling "compromise."
http://www.motherjones.com/...
In "The Myth of the Obama Cave-In," Corn reveals how much of what was perceived as "caving" by the public and a lazy media was actually Obama achieving some much-needed stimulus then in return for a short extension of the Bush tax cuts, but that the situation now is far different. The point he makes is that Obama has this ability to engineer a far more complex strategy than he is generally credited for.
So in this case, now, regarding the big "deal" Republicans are making that they will "agree" to increased revenues only if Obama agrees to "entitlement reforms" and "put Obamacare on the table" -- I say Obama should agree -- Republicans have to accept increased taxes on the wealthy, and Obamacare can be "modified" and the costs to taxpayers of health care reform AKA Obamacare can be reduced by modifying Obamacare into "Americare -- the public option Medicare for All system many of us would be happy to fight for.
What other issue can Obama count on eliciting such rabid support from us, his base, which is what he has learned he needs to do to succeed.
Why else the serious, sincere, and persistent effort by the campaign to morph into a post-campaign action arm? I got the survey and didn't immediately respond and got a follow-up that pushed me into completing it. I got the clear feeling that this was a serious sincere effort to keep the grassroots involved, not just a token "thanks for your support and give us your feedback for the round-file".
What say you Kossacks?