New DNC Obama Ad: Get "Fired Up" and "Ready To Go" About No Public Option

President Obama has been desperate to ditch the public option for weeks.  Max Baucus did the job he thought he was supposed to do -- memorialize the deals that the White House cut with health care industry stakeholders.  He left it to the White House to sell it, and now they have to.

But every time they tried to jettison the public option through surrogates like Kathleen Sebelius or "senior White House officials" speaking anonymously to media outlets, the base went haywire and Obama's poll numbers started tanking.

Well, now that Baucus has delivered his stenography, gotta get the base on board with the "goody bag" of benefits -- which basically means whatever was left over after Rahm Emanuel got done auctioning off the rest to the medical industrial complex.

So the new DNC ad fires up the "base" by trying to rally them around hatred of teabaggers:

Because hatred of teabaggers will, I guess, mean that nobody notices that Obama makes no mention of a public option in the ad:

It's meant to primarily signal our most ardent supporters and the base of the Democratic Party that we are with you -- and that we need you -- to get this done and accomplish the other big things this president has set out to do," DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse said.

Well, now there's the rub.  Because it turns out that 44% of Democrats strongly support health care reform with a public option, but that figure drops to 12% without one.   So passing the Baucus bill means stabbing the base and destroying 2010 turnout for the midterms, which is pretty much what NAFTA did in 1994 -- when there was a 54 seat swing to the Republicans. 

Thank Rahm Emanuel for that one, too.

It looks like Obama's speech in College Park, Maryland the other day on health care also served as a spectacular photo-op, allowing the DNC to flood the air waves with "fired up, ready to go!" ads supporting generic health care reform.  

I think they left out one key moment of the Maryland event:

That's the one where the crowd openly boos the Baucus bill.

 

 

Follow Jane Hamsher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/janehamsher

Comments

[LightningJoe]

And here I am -- openly booing the Bachus Bill.

There will BE no change without the public option -- which is why the insurance companies and their paid-off Republican goons want it dropped.

And...there is NO RATIONAL for supporting a plan without one. If the public option remains out of the plan, we are much better off without one that requires everyone, under threat of a fine, to buy overpriced and uncontrolled private insurance. That would simply be a handout to the insurance companies.

[justShareandbeNice]

Jane,

Why don't progressives start a *real* discussion about the viabilty of a third party? The goal: 1) get attention, scare the dems 2) really think the idea through.
The debate over whether we should stick with the Dems or start a third party ALWAYS comes up --eventually. We get screwed, we talk about a third party, we don't do it. It is such an old debate. The third party idea is usually thrown out quickly... but what we are doing isn't working, either. (I voted for Nader in 2000 ONLY because of the funding we would have gotten to start a third party if we got 5% of the vote, which we almost did.)

Is there any serious talk among "progressive leaders and thinkers" on this subject? We need a "if this happens, then we..." kind of discussion. The tension between the two camps (do we stay or do we go?) isn't going away? I think it deserves serious attention.

Obama will disappoint -- already has, big time. That is a given. The question is, how bad will he disappoint and *what will we do about it*?

How well is the strategy of reforming the Democratic party working? IS that our strategy? We have had some success. But at what point do we say "no more!" to being screwed, taken for granted, lied to, marginalized, co-opted etc? It is time to think long term. We will get no where until this always-festering debate is settled.

[Rowan Mithril-Star]

This is why I'm registered as a Green, and live in an area where Green politicians hold public office. My dream is to someday see the Greens and the Democrats as the two prominent parties, with the Democrats as the Right wing. LOL!! Then you'll see some progress!

[IdiotLog]

How do you feel about Nader's saying there was no difference between Gore and Bush? Nader's narcissism may have destroyed our country by allowing Baker/Cheney to steal the presidency. Thanks for helping them.

[joeinvt]

I thought that Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod shut down the DNC.

[WorkingClass]

It's counter productive to "support" president Obama. He is part of the problem.

[Dustee]

Senator Jay Rockefeller said on Charlie Rose that for the GOP it's about Obama, that Republicans don't want the President to get anything or win this health insurance debate on health care. They've got to make Obama appear to be a looser and they are fighting him tooth and nail.

A must see video.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10616

[ciarequital]

I've been getting a real bad feeling about this health care bill. I hope we haven't been sold out all ready and everything that's going on now is just for show. I know Obama's only been in office for seven months and that's too soon for him to be able to reform health care, the financial markets and the two wars; but it really looks like the corporate wing of the Democratic Party is calling the shots. I knew Rahm and the DLC would be poison. I'm hoping that the progressive dems in Congress will start calling the shots. I'm skeptically waiting to see.....

[Softnsweet]

There is no basis to this article. I am not going to believe a word of this article. You have proven nothing. I will wait and see what Obama does and the bill that passes.

[Zombeaver]

I would hope that if you support real health care reform, you won't "wait and see what Obama does" before making yourself heard. He and our congressmen need to hear from you now.

[Dustee]

You are exactly right! Too may people are waiting for the President to do something, HE NEED our support now!!! It's not enough to have helped elect him we have to push this reform through with all our might. Call your congress critters everyday if need be and email/send letters.

These congress critters are fighting not just health reform, they fight is against Obama no matter what he wants for our country.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10616

[IdiotLog]

Obama has been ceding his mandate and the momentum for radical change provided by the historic financial crisis since the day after the election. What does he stand for? -- it appears to be Brand Obama. He should have known he'd face an implacably antagonistic faction. He need to marginalize the apologists for the broken old order -- instead he embraced them and marginalized his own base and let its power dissipate. Like the man says: "The best and the brightest blow it again."

[ron071]

Those who are already making threats have to get a little patience as this very difficult challenge works its way. We don't yet have a bill and yet many above are in an uproar about being sold out. Since Harry S. Truman many have tried to achieve health care reform. Barack Obama has been working on it for a FEW MONTHS and already his " supporters" are at his neck instead of his back. Patience is now urgent to give this fine man a chance to prove his abilities and deliver. The rush to critical judgement shows how little patience folks have when they know how great the obstacles are. I'm surprised and disappointed at how unrealistic and loyal some " supporters" are turning out to be. Stay the course and hold your judgements until the work is complete. Please have reasonable patience.

[iridium53]

As far as I'm concerned - no public option = no Obama 2012.

Given his very favorable treatment of banksters - his $350M from TARP II and continued support for Bernanke's Trillions - with not the slightest move to constrain the bankers, I'm very disappointed.

Now, he and Democratic congress have created a "huge ****job for the healthcare industry."

I was mislead. I wanted a POTUS that would fight for the people - Change I can believe in. Not a POTUS that fights for big corporations.

[Zombeaver]

To all of the ConservaDems out there who are complaining about the progressive public-option-angst on this site: If you're for a public option, now is the time for you to put pressure on your elected officials, because if you don't, all they will hear is the constant whine from the right. Your chiding of those who dare to pressure Obama and congress to clearly support a public option suggests that you agree with the strategy employed by the Democrats so far. Would you have taken Single Payer off the table before the debate even started? I didn’t think so. So if your concern is that all Democrats push in the same direction, then get behind the progressives and push with us. If Congress can’t get a public option into the final bill, and if Obama signs it, THEN we can discuss an incrimental approach. But to work towards and defend an incremental approach before the vote, prematurely takes public option off the table just like Baucus did with single payer.

[Marcospinelli]

Why are any of them (Obama, Michelle or Biden ) giving speeches? There is no healthcare plan to sell.

And what happened to Obama taking questions at these townhalls?

The speech seems merely a way for Obama to try to sell himself by telling an amusing story (that same old "Fired up, ready to go" story again). What's the point of this? There is no plan that's "ready to go"; nothing to get "fired up" about. Is Obama the intermission act that's supposed to keep us from ripping up the seats?

Obama's given this same speech, televised now for the fifth time, without taking any questions from the crowd, much less those "hard questions". It's one thing for Obama not to take questions from rightwing fringe groups, but why isn't he taking questions from Democratic voters? Or university students?

Come to think of it, why was he giving that speech at a university in the White House's backyard? Was it to use the students at the University of Maryland as a backdrop for his rally. How is that any different than Bush using the troops on the USS Abraham Lincoln for his "Mission Accomplished" photo-op?

Why won't Obama face legitimate questions from journalists on the left and answer seering questions?

I'd like to see Obama and other Democrats in office face a panel with Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Matt Taibbi, Ezra Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann, Glen Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and a few others.

[Fred Hood]

We cannot allow big money to win this fight. We must stick together and demand a public option!!!

[Marcospinelli]

Americans don't want INSURANCE; Americans want affordable quality medical care. The only way to get that is with single payer universal health care, aka Medicare For All.

The problem with Obama's "public option":

Obama says that he won't sign a bill with a public option that isn't self-sustaining (paid for completely by those people in it).

If people get to pick and choose what plan they join, then the most impoverished and sickest people will pick the public option because it will cost them the least amount of money.

If that happens, then that option will not be self-sustaining.

Any insurance plan that draws an ever-increasing percentage of its membership from the very sick finds itself in a de@th spiral. It cannot sustain its expenses through membership fees.

And that's where Obama's being a we@sel. He's lawyer-speaking, saying things that mean something else entirely than what the People think he means.

[Dustee]

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10616

Watch!

[Sellse]

If Obama doesnt deliver on a robust public option, he'll never again have the trust of the base, and we will stay home during the 2010 midterms. There wont be enough money in lobbyworld to get us out for another bait and switch campaign (you vote for what you think is a democrat ... but once they're sworn in, they turn into centrist republicans).

[gibraltar]

Absolutely we must learn to compromise we are told. Well heres what I'll compromise if they spit in the face of the base and labor. I'll compromise these long held principles Campaigning for Democrats, contributing to Democrats, voting for Democrats. they won't see hide nor hair of me for next two election cycles. Democrats with Democratic principles must take our party back!

[ResidualSelfImage]

"the result of low Democratic turnout"
Democrats will turn out. Groups like move on and others will show ads
demonstrating the BLUE DOGS agenda and funding.
Registration drive havent stopped.

[MighteeAphrodite]

Any elected official who ignores his constituents must be voted out.

Politicians in bed with the insurance industry, satisfying their financial needs at our expense, are fraudulent and must be replaced.

A vote against the public option is a vote against you.