Today, as reported by Rachel Weiner, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is unveiling a full-page New York Times ad featuring hundreds of Obama campaign workers asking the President to fight strong because "A bill without a public option would not be 'change we can believe in.'"
Click here to see the new ad.
This ad comes one day after we assembled Obama campaign staff at the White House and presented over 75,000 petition signatures urging the president to demand a public option in his speech to Congress tonight. This event was covered by the NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, and others.
Thousands of people made this ad possible -- by signing our YesWeStillCan.org petition and chipping in donations averaging $35.
Now we'll get started on a new TV ad featuring the voices of Obama campaign staffers -- as well as other powerful ads aimed at members of Congress who need a push. We'll be ready to assert smart pressure where it's needed in the coming days, and we invite you to help us.
In tonight's speech, it's expected that President Obama will express a preference for the public option. But frankly, that's not enough.
The overwhelming majority of Americans want Obama to fight for the public option. For the White House employees reading this post, here are 3 practical things Obama can do:
- Tonight, whip out the veto pen -- say the public option is the compromise and anything short of that is dead on arrival.
- Demand that all Democratic senators promise publicly not to join a Republican filibuster. (Why has this obvious thing not been done yet?)
- Instead of letting unstrategic actors like Rahm Emanuel negotiate away the public option with fake Republic "moderate" Olympia Snowe, why not barnstorm across her home state of Maine -- a state Obama won 58% to 40% -- demanding she vote for a public option that her constituents support?
This is a time for bold leadership. Our New York Times ad is a call from Obama's own campaign staff for him to move in that direction.
And please feel free to forward this post to your friends. Let them know there are bold progressives fighting the good fight -- and that they can still sign our ongoing petition to at YesWeStillCan.org.