Keith Olbermann Is Wrong
On the very morning the Senate was going to decide whether or not to kick Bill Clinton out of office, the President was acting as if he hadn’t a care in the world. When asked why, he replied: “They don’t have the votes.”
See, administrations are pretty good at figuring out where each senator stands on a particular issue. Same is true with the Obama Administration on the current healthcare debate. Experts approximate there are 37 progressives who favor a public option, with 4 leaning that way. I’m no mathematics expert, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to get a bill passed.
Olbermann, on the other hand, has repeatedly called the President “weak” for not forcing the issue. The pundit repeatedly attacks Obama for not sticking to what he said during last year’s campaign. How many times did Barack Obama say a government option was the best way to achieve reform? Too many to remember. Note, he always said the “best” way – not the “only” way. And how many times did Barack Obama say, “The Perfect should not be the enemy of the Good”? I think that line was second only to “Yes we can!”
Olbermann and the far left are just as bad as O’Reilly and the far right on this one; both sides are going all-or-nothing. Have all these geniuses forgotten that politics is all about compromise? Just look at how far we’ve come in just a few months. We’re on the verge of doing something for the first time since it became an issue forty years ago – passing healthcare reform.
The rabid followers of Michelle Malkin as well as the wild-eyed followers of Arianna Huffington need to remember, Barack Obama is not just President of the Blue States or the Red States, but the United States of America…
Notes From the Far-Center 
After considering this issue for a few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that if there is no public option, there will be no reform. Non-profits already exist and have had a history of corruption. They have done nothing to bring down the cost of insurance.
There is too much profit in health care. Right now, 10-20 percent of our insurance fees go towards administration including profits and humongous CEO salaries. If we reduce administration costs, our costs will go down.
Medicare operates at a 3% overhead. A public option insurance plan could do the same thing.
So you disagree with the President.
Yes. He’s turning into another Bill Clinton. Democrats need to develop a backbone.
And you don’t believe something is better than nothing.
Something may be better than nothing, but why aspire to mediocrity? There is the opportunity now to do something great for our country. The majority wants a public option, the Democrats have control of the House, the Senate, and the presidency, so there’s no reason for capitulating to the right-wing obstructionists.
Did you even read my post?!?
How in hell is 37 senators a majority?!?
The majority of the public is for a public option.
http://www.ipsosna.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=4461
Listen, Ben. I’m tired of having to explain this over and over again. I know most folks want a public option. Hell, I’m one of them! But I realize the votes are not there. Let me repeat: THE VOTES ARE NOT THERE!!!
Perhaps we can get a compromise with the Snowe “trigger” idea, I don’t know. I DO know that we’re not going to get everything we want. Not with the Senate we have today.
The public option WAS the compromise. I know the votes are not there, but that doesn’t mean we should be happy about some worthless bill that will be for show only, helping almost no one.
That’s exactly right. They shelved the single payer option and compromised with the public option. If the dems keep compromising, eventually they’ll offer nothing at all in the way of reform.
What concerns me is a plan in which the government gives money to private insurance companies to pay for health insurance for the uninsured. That would be just more corporations stealing from the American taxpayer. We already gave at the Wall Street Bank of thievery last Fall.
I’m not happy. But I hardly think folks on the left abandoning the President is a good idea.
I have to disagree Kurt, no more compromises, not this time, not on health care reform.
The public option is the compromise and I will not turn over the health of every American to Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, WellPoint, Providence and the lying, thieving, cruel gang.
They have bottom lines to worry about, not our health and they cannot even reform, when people are marching in the streets against them. That shows a lack of flexibility and willingness to change.
This is too important, and it also goes beyond the very important matter of health, it is coporations vs. democracy.
This is the line in the sand, and if there is no public option, then no bill, period.
Enough is enough.
I agree with you, MMM. If Congress and the President can’t fight for us then why should we fight for them.
Oh, one more thing:
Do you really believe the lefties on Huffington Post are equal to Glenn Beck’s crowd?
Really?
You just proved they are with your all-or-nothing attitude.
Look, the point of this post was the misplaced anger toward the President. He’s not the one thwarting reform, it’s the Senate. If you want to place blame, that’s where it should go.
I can appreciate compromise but I can also appreciate no compromise. It depends on the issue. Take something like torture. I think it would be silly to say…
“To hell with you lefties who want no torture and you right-wing nut jobs who believe we should be able to do anything we want to a captive! I’m for the middle! I’m against extremely painful torture but I think waterboarding and psychological threats are OK. C’mon guys…you extremists need to learn to compromise!”
Because health care is so deeply rooted in human rights (like the issue of torture), I can understand why many will stand firm on a public option. On the other hand, most political issues are not tied so closely to human rights so often, there is more room for reasonable negotiation. But to claim that all political issues are necessarily about compromise is faulty thinking.
I never said all political issues are about compromise. I said politics is all about compromise. Huge difference. If we don’t achieve 100% of what we want in 2009, it’s not the end of the world. Passing the best bill we can right now will bring us a step closer to the ultimate goal. Failing because we can’t have everything we want right away will only be a giant step in the wrong direction.
And torture isn’t a political issue anyway, it’s a legal matter.
Todays politics is quite busy. there is this election in US and also the installation of a new ruling party in China. .
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