With New Strategy White House Plays Last Card on Health Care: Lead a Bipartisan Bill or Risk a Defining First Year Failure

August recess was no day at the playground for legislators visiting their home districts. Main Street is looking worse each day. Folks back home are angry, and a vocal group has proved it in town halls. New Hampshire is no exception. White House control over the bill, and the legacy of Ted Kennedy could be the remedy.

The White House decision to take over health care shows that the administration is facing a bitter pill to swallow: if the bill dies, it renders Obama's first year a failure. With his political capital invested, the President can not afford to let this legislation be driven by the House, nor can he afford to wait. He must make his stand as Congress returns on Tuesday. The only alternative is to go with a moderate plan, get the Baucus six to push it through, and leave the House with no other bills.

At stake are some very real consequences: Has President Obama succeeded or failed in his first year? Will health insurance be extended to the uninsured, the essential crux of the legislation?

The "public option" has to be minimized and renamed; a spoon full of sugar, after all, helps the medicine go down. "Co-op" is too loaded a term; try "non-profit optional choice for those who have no insurance" instead. Even if restructuring the public option alienates some Democrats, gains public approval, and has the potential to bring Republicans over to the bill.

The bill that the White House desires must come out of the Senate Finance Committee, and it must be the Kennedy legacy bill that can pass with more than a party line vote. Otherwise, it's buyers remorse for all three branches, and Republicans will do a victory dance.

Amidst the lowest poll numbers yet, Obama is now showing the leadership and change he promised voters during the campaign. The priority cannot be whether House likes the plan that passes. The public is angrier at them than than they are at President Obama, so its now or never unless he wants to see his approval numbers drop lower and relive Hillary-care 1993. The new strategy may also save the pro-public option Democrats from defeat in 2010 as it did in 1994 when voters rejected Democratic control of all three bodies and handed Republicans a platform to run on.

President Obama is up against the House, and he knows it. This is the last chance for credit to go the Administration for finding the courage to take the issue back and lead for the people, not the fractured political pressure inside the beltway.

Health care is back on the table, and its in critical condition.

Comments

[pontesisto]

There is no way all the other industrialized nations in the world are all wrong when it comes to health care. We need a single payer system. If you would like to help pressure Congress to pass single payer health care reform please join our voting bloc at:
WWW.VOTINGBLOC.ORG

[skippypicasso]

Medicare is a successful program. The solution, at least temporarily, is come up with a name for an expanded Medicare program that includes the uninsured and takes over the function of COBRA. The Ted Kennedy Medicare Inclusion Act of 2009 can be established and the horrible 'public option' nomenclature can be dropped from our vocabulary in exchange.

[Aaror]

Any bill that is supported by any house republican would be a disaster for the American People.
Forget bipartisanship, they won't make any compromise unless it makes sure that the bill will be a disaster that will sink Obama and the Democrats.
Better to have a good law passed by one party than a bad "bi-partisan," law.

[jhNY]

Incremental is another word for 'weak'. Obama needs to get a substantive meaningful health care bill to sign so he can show the people that the government works for them. Not for the drug companies. Not for the insurance companies. Not by way of compromise with uncompromising tools of lobbyists like Baucus and all the obstructionmist firestarters in the Republican Party. Once people see something big done in their interest, that delivers real change now, they will trust him to do what it takes to put the economy back on solid ground. Should he do any less on health care, the people will turn away, and those tea parties will just get bigger and even more incoherent than now.

[MThomasNC]

O Ye of little faith - President Obama got this. He will not be hamstrung by disgruntled conservative quacks. This talk about the WH writing the HCR legislation is totally wrong - that is congress's job to write legislation w input from the WH. I expect more faith in the administration tactics from democratic strategists than I've seen since January 20. The president did not win this election by cow towering to supporters of JohnMcCain or others. He won based on what the people want, and that's his mandate. Interestingly, 99% of the print and tv/radio have been on Obama's seven months than Bush's eight years that more than anything contributed to this mess. Why is that?

[ThankfulTexan]

The progressives have lost the battle on both single payer and public option health reform. The majority of Americans want neither of these options as seen by the public interest that has arisen during the heath insurance reform debate. Cui Roi at 3:11 am describes many of the folks that have interjected their opinions as simple minded people that are frustrated. You misjudge us, progressives are not the only Americans that that are bright, know how to study an issue, and get their point across. Both President Obama's and the legislation poll numbers have dropped like a rock for this very reason.

The public is not going to be fooled by changing terminology. Public Co-ops are dead in their tracks and a "spoon full of sugar" on horse hockey will not work. The American public has seen through the smoke screen. Continuing to try and pull the wool over the eyes of the public is not going to work.

A clean slate needs to now be used and a real reform for health care and insurance needs to begin with the proposals of Mr. John Mackey as the outline.

[middleoftheroad]

Read Politico today. Obama is moving past the public option...it's dead.

[Samalabear]

By all means, we should all bend to whatever makes the Repubs and the Blue Dogs happy. Let's pass a crappy bill. Obama will sign whatever comes to his desk, that seems pretty obvious. And he'll get what he wants and so will Rahm. Bill Moyers said it best: It's all about making sure that copious campaign funds flow to Obama for re-election. That's all Rahm is interested in, and I'm not sure this isn't Obama's first goal, either. The Repubs, however, will say no to anything and they'll do that because A) they want Obama to fail and B) they want the money from the medical industrial complex for their coffers. And the American people are caught in the middle of a bunch of politicians who are simply interested in who gets more money for their "war chests" from the corporate interests.

[batguano]

Absolutely right! Unless we end the power of money and greed to dictate public policy (campaign finance reform) we are doomed to fight this fight on every piece of legislation that comes down the pike. The power of greed is driving our nation instead of what will make us stronger and more secure. Compromise (capitulation) now will also doom the rest of the Obama administrations time and anything they want done; Republican agents for the rich and powerful will be relentless in destroying anything to benefit our nation and not their investments and profits. Obama is fast becoming more of the same just as many of his appointees foretold. Change we can believe in, or just another pretty face corrupted by the power of campaign money and our system that rewards greed at the expense of the Common Good.

[astheworldturns]

No. No. No. The House of Representatives has it right.

[emailers2]

Support progressives in Congress who are pushing for a public option. The people are being outspent by the health insurance industry. Look at ActBlue, 6823 have contributed over $400,000.00. You can choose which Congress person to donate to.

http://www.actblue.com/page/theytookthepledge

[JohnFromCensornati]

John Yarmuth is my rep. He is one of the reps listed. He is at great personal risk of losing his seat. Humana is headquartered in his district.

[JohnFromCensornati]

The point of this article is that congress and the president should do what is best for the congress and the president. Is this what the people voted for? I don't think so!

[ajwriter]

**Get rid of for-profit insurance:
Save $500 - 750 billion every year. We are a rich nation again.
No more battles with insurers.
No more horrible appeals and "gotcha" denials.
Let doctors be free to practice medicine again, THEN figure out what needs fixing.
Everyone experiences benefits in their lives from the change.

Everyone happy as time passes.

**Do the public option for a select few
Any measures that take anything from insurers will face yet more schemes and opposition
The country keeps paying for almost one insurance paperpusher for every healthcare worker
Only a small number of people will actually be eligible for the "public option" so it has no hope of ever saving any money
Insurers deny claims for all the newly insured the same way they do for everyone else
We spend even more than we did before, almost no one benefits

Everyone complaining that health reform failed and even more afraid to try again.

Is flushing our country down the tubes really what you want (I ask both sides of the aisle)?

Republicans: Let the Dems get rid of for-profit insurance. Then Dems take the heat from insurers and Republicans swoop in and make improvements that give people more control, and take all the credit. Save the nation and revive the party (and no more beating a dead horse).

[reddflagg]

Passing a bi-partisan bill only makes sense if you think that a worse than worthless bill that simply subsidizes the insurance mafia will get Obama re-elected in 2012. Which it won't.

[hapiday]

Between the media and pro-reform health care supporters I don't know which group thought this was going to be a walk in the park. Did people forget the push back in 1994 regarding health care reform? The same happened with medicare. The same playbook is being used to try and defeat health care reform with one exception, which is the president is black. That may be why this battle seems so brutal. I don't know where these polls are coming from nor do I care. I along with many others have not lost confidence in President Obama. These alleged poll numbers are meant to discourage the pro-health care supporters. We are fired up and ready to go!!! Health care reform is coming to America. The insurance companies can keep advertising to the point that they bankrupt themselves.

[ajwriter]

And this is why any "reform" that leaves the insurance industry at the table is doomed to fail. For-profit insurance is killing us, and all this rancor will only continue after reform is passed if anyone hones in on their racket.

[Helzapoppin]

"Amidst the lowest poll numbers yet, Obama is now showing the leadership and change he promised voters during the campaign. "

Really? Cause I haven't seen it yet.