Howard Dean: Washington Is More Resistant To Change Than Anything "Except A Few Religious Cults"

In an interview with Esquire magazine, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean (author of a new book, "Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Health Care Reform," explained why there was so much resistance to a public health care option.

ESQ: Speaking of the Obama plan, you're even stronger than he has been lately in support of the public plan. You say that without it, it's not reform.

HD: It's not. It's a waste of time. Don't pretend you're going to do health-insurance reform unless you're really going to change the system. The discussions in the Senate have not been about changing the system.

ESQ: They seem to be worried about preserving the status quo.

HD: Washington is the most conservative town in America. Its culture is the most resistant to change except a few religious cults.

Yesterday, Dean responded to reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was pushing for a public option that would be triggered by future conditions. "I think that a public plan with triggers is not a real public plan and it is going to be a trillion dollar failure," Dean said. "Anyone who thinks a trigger is going to lead us to a good place five years from now is wrong... It is not a sensible policy compromise."

Read the full interview here.

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Comments

[fleaba]

Yesssss. Howard Dean is right on. All the Dems that bought into this game need to pony up, because they are rapidly losing their stake in this game. This includes Mr. Rahm. The Blue dogs can be voted out of office just as quickly as the republicans (not that the republicans have anyone to replace it with). I voted for Obama, but this regime needs to step it up. You guys have Franken, so what's the problem. Oh, is that a health insurance lobbyist I hear in the background?

[WoodyCPM]

"The Blue dogs can be voted out of office just as quickly...­" Oh god how I wish that were true. Down here in the South, we love our Republicans masquerading as Democrats. You're talking about a backwards part of the country, it always has been. I was born in the South, southerners, I grew up in the South and I live in the South again, so I know of what I speak. Good luck with that.

[truegreen]

i see why the RAHM EMANUEL was so against Dean being part of the Obama administration. Dean is just too honest and raw for the Obama administration.

[quantumspin]

Exactly. Emanuel is the actual president it seems, with Obama just reading the scripts on teleprompter. Dean would have been a 'straight up' president, but that is not what the Democratic party wants. And WE VOTED FOR THIS. We need a solid third party, there is no doubt now. We may have voted out the GOP, but we got Chicago mafia politics with Emanuel as its leader and Obama as the front man in the suit.

[SteamRanger]

And to think, we missed a chance at having this man as our President because of a sound bite.

[cosmicbullfight]

My thoughts exactly.

[jwatso7]

Funny, isn't it, how one did him in, yet Palin and Bush had gaff after gaff and they remain heroes to conservatives?

[SteamRanger]

I don't know. I just reviewed the infamous "scream" and it boggles my mind that something so trivial became such a damning offense. John Kerry was an extreme longshot. To my inner conspiracy theorist, the way things turned out, it seems that there was more than a little chicanery involved at high levels.

Rigged elections? Surely it couldn't happen in America!

[Hopeington]

I always love to hear from Howard Dean. Good job, keep it up.

[fumes]

ok.. how many people here still believe in omnipotence?

+ or -

so there ya go.. good luck separating dc from cult.

[Mikeeee]

You go Mr. Dean!!

[escribacat]

If we took away their health coverage, they'd be quick enough to change.

[SteamRanger]

The absurdity is that these government employees are far more able to pay for their own healthcare than the majority of Americans. Wouldn't you like to be able to decide your own pay rates and benefits? Washington has a sweet little racket going.

[CarolW2]

Wouldn't we all love to do that! Can you imagine a member of Congress having to think "I only have 3 appointments per year with co-pay; am I sick enough to go to the doctor and use one of those appointments?"

[huffingt]

Geez OH Peeee-

[Biyobi]

I think EVERYONE KNOWS where the hardcore resistance is: The Right-Wing Nuttery

The Dwindling Republican Party is filled with xenophobes, homophobes, and education-phobes; it's rife with sanctimonious holier-than-thou hypocrites who wag fingers in public -- and wag other things in private; it's a "conservative" party in name only (having run deficit spending budgets during Reagan and both Bush admins).

The GOP = The Party of NO

No self-reflection. No innovation. No progress.

[vinny]

the main resistance is in the democratic party...

pay attention.

[olmossy]

But it's not the GOP that is stopping Single Payer or Public Option. It is some of the Democrats who have taken money from the same people as the GOP, that are holding things up.
Why would any liberal/Democrat stall for a moment, to pass single payer ? If they are reall Liberals?

[PhilipTaylor]

Must include the ENTIRE SENATE as they are all paid to vote according to their Donors/Managers!

The Blue Dawgs are acting like Pa!d-0ff Republicans!

[hark]

I'm afraid that's not true. It's conservative America that resists change. And Gallup polls show that 40% of Americans are conservative, as opposed to only 20% progressive. Split the moderates in half, and you've got basically 60% of the American people who will resist any serious change, and only 20% who will push for it.

This split hasn't changed since Gallup started the poll in the 1990s. The election did not represent a change in American ideology - only disgust with the Bush administration and the Republicans. There's a big difference. Pretty soon that disgust will turn on the Democrats, and not because they are failing to push a progressive agenda. It will be because the deficit and national debt have reached staggering levels. They will vote the Republicans back in, lower taxes, less spending, and repudiate "big government" as the solution to anything.

Ironically, if Obama acted far more aggressively, his chances for success would increase, and progressivism might see a comeback. But he's compromising his program so much it won't succeed, and that will be the death of liberalism for decades to come.

We progressives need to understand that we're in a pretty small minority. This is an echo chamber here.

[partisanpolitico]

I will be seriously bummed if the Dems cannot get health REFORM passed this time around.
I will furiously type complaints to many, MANY web sites.
I mean it.
Many websites.
Nuclear option.
Just so we're clear, furious.

we are so screwed

[Samalabear]

Howard Dean, the man who should have been HHS, at the very least. Rahm did not want Dean near the WH. I really want single payer, as the majority do, but the public option that Dean is talking about is not this watered-down, convoluted crap we've been reading about. His public option would lead to single payer. It would put insurance companies in their proper place -- supporting players.

Keep talking, Howard Dean. The cool-aid drinkers need to understand what is going on. They can't sit back and just think that Obama will "do the right thing" or that he's "playing chess."

[apduncan1]

Thanks!

We need like you.

[vinny]

the "master chess player" meme has gotten stale...

[pilotsknob]

Thank you Howard. The Democrats need more spokespeople like Howard Dean out there to defend progressive ideas. Our current crop of so called Democratic leaders do not speak up to the likes of Rove, Cheney and the bunch. Nor do they help to pave the way for POTUS to get reforms in place. I miss Howard as the DNC Chair.

[vinny]

in political science terms, define "progressive ideas"...

c'mon obamacrats, what are your basic political principles???

[jumperpin]

Liking Howie-on-t­he-loose..­.'stead of some shackled fluff-speaking undersecretary of health.

[lvdragonlady]

He is correct. DC still thinks that is back in the 20th century where all agreements were negotiated in smoke filled rooms, where a bunch of OWG's met, talked, haggled, money changed hands and the world went round. This is a new day, time and century. IT is time for DC to realize that the America people are more informed then they were just a couple of elections ago. IF they do not wake up and change they will ALL be out of a job.

[John Horner]

We voted for Real Change Mr. President, not half-measures and window dressing.

So far Obama is not delivering much Real Change We Can Believe In.

[paulalex]

Don't know much about politics do you John ;-)

It's a GAME, and it takes a LONG TIME to win if you do it properly.

Obama and his crew are at the table as we speak.