I just joined thousands of others, including several hundred former staffers from the campaign, in signing a petition to President Obama, telling him that health care reform without a public option is not "change we can believe in."
As a staffer of the President's working as a community organizer in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in rural Western Pennsylvania, I fought hard for him during the campaign. I worked 16-17 hours a day with no days off for nearly four months working to get the President elected.
I worked in an overwhelmingly Republican area where there had never previously been a full time organizer. I organized over 250 volunteers into five autonomously run neighborhood teams that conducted aggressive door-to-door and over-the-phone voter contacts every day of the week. These were people who had never been involved in Democratic politics because their area was so overwhelming Republican, but they fought with everything they had because they believed in a President who promised to be a fighter against special interests.
There were people like Shelia Lane, a recently laid off single mother of three, who worked ten hours every day in the most mundane, inglorious of tasks making sure we elected a President who represented people like herself. There was 66-year old Wayne Hanson, an old time community organizer, who was recovering from a heart attack and would stay at the office till three in the morning making sure the plans for our massive Get Out The Vote operations were properly executed.
Their understanding of how important electing Barack Obama was what led people like Harmony Grogan, from Texas, to quit her high high-paying job as an architect and drive all the way to Crawford County, Pennsylvania to volunteer full time, without pay, to work for change.
It was an incredible moment in American history, when people come together for a common purpose. Never in my life have I seen people open up and work towards a common cause as the good folks of Crawford County did. They endured countless hours of volunteering, vandalism of their properties, and in one instance a man with a shotgun threatening them. They lived in an overwhelmingly Republican area, which they had little chance of winning, but they fought hard anyhow because they wanted a President who would be a fighter against the special interests that had dominated.
On election night, the tears didn't stop streaming down my face -- we won 44% of the vote in our county (the most Democrats had in 50 years in that county) and won my home state of Pennsylvania. So many people had given so much and had fought so hard together because they believed in this man's capacity to stand up and fight for them.
I will never forget my experience of those few brief months as long as I live. I'll never forget what I learned: that we could beat any powerful interest in this country if we were just willing to fight hard enough for it.
Speaking at a party for former staffers, a day after he was inaugurated, President Obama called on his staffers to continue the fight they had fought during the campaign. (Watch the clip at around 2:30 -- I've watched it dozens of times and it has never ceased to inspire me!)
He said, "I promise you if everybody in this hall is willing to keep doing what you guys did over the last two years, then I am optimistic about America. I may make some mistakes, but you'll set me right."
Mr. President, we have not forgotten the promise we made that night. We are here to set you right.
There are rumors that you are considering dropping the public option, despite 77% of the American public and the majority of U.S. Senators supporting it. Sir, there is no way we can have real health care reform without a public option. Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition, bring down costs and serve the people.
If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry.
As Marshall Ganz and Peter Dreier, two of the leading visionaries of Obama's community organizing strategy pointed out in an op-ed this past weekend:
If the unholy alliance of insurance industry muscle, conservative Democrats' obfuscation and right-wing mob tactics is able to defeat Obama's health-care proposal, it will write the conservative playbook for blocking other key components of the president's agenda -- including action on climate change, immigration reform and updates to the nation's labor laws.
Mr. President, we are here to say that there is only one force in this country more powerful than the insurance industry and its corporate allies - us!
During the campaign, we defeated two of the strongest political machines ever assembled in the primary and the general election. We can beat these guys too.
We are ready to fight, sir. You are the most inspirational leader of our generation, sir, and we will follow to hell and back in this fight.
Therefore, I am asking my fellow campaign staffers, team leaders, and volunteers to sign this pledge promising to fight for the public option and urging President Obama to fight for it. Also, feel free to email me (at mikeelk@boldprogressives.org) if you are a former staffer and interested in ways you can help organize other staffers to help set the President right, as we promised him we would.
We are the most powerful grassroots army ever assembled in American history, and we want you to fight for a public option. We promise to fight with you every step of the way, just as we did during the campaign.
Mr. President, We are fired up and ready to go!
Are you ready to lead?
Join me in signing the petition to the president here.
Follow Mike Elk on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MikeElk
Allison Kilkenny: A Moment's Silence for the Public Option
A "trigger option" means the public option doesn't exist, and won't until an undefined series of events occur whereupon the public option will pop into existence. This isn't a compromise. It's an insult.
The vice president, in a speech before a friendly audience at the Brookings Institution during one of Obama's recent vacations, said "I" more than a dozen times as he pointed repeatedly to progress on the economy and to his lofty role in the process.
"Every week -- with notable exceptions -- I hold a Cabinet meeting. And most of the Cabinet secretaries attend," he told the audience in Washington.
Takes all kinds to attempt to de-rail this administration, I guess.
In a world of globalized job instability our health should not be dependent upon employment status.We should not be declaring bankruptcy to pay our medical bills. We should not be choosing between food and insurance. while working at minimum wage jobs.We should not be living a life at 30% because we can't afford to receive our ailments treated.
We should not be condemning people to death because they have not yet reached the age of 65.
All Americans deserve the healthcare that our elderly , veterans and government employees get because we are all in this together...
I believe President Obama will step up to the challenge this Wed.
He also said he'd lead by example...
Doing the right thing...trying to reach out to the other side...being rejected!
It is common knowledge now that the republicans are going to do everything but cooperate.
He has lead them out in the open...they are exposed for what they are(again)!
If he can communicate that...explain the public option(again)...and say that this is not his bill..it's your bill..and I'm behind you! Let's do this together...
I am reminded of the great Dr. Cornel West's quote on what he calls Hope On A Tight Rope, "Real hope is grounded in a particularly messy struggle and it can be betrayed by naïve projections of a better future that ignore the necessity of doing the real work. So what we are talking about is hope on a tightrope."
We are right smack in the middle of a "messy struggle", and it is time for us to begin the "real work". We can change things, and we don't even have to play dirty to do it! The election proved at least that much.
It's time to push back, but it's not necessary to fight. It's time to say NO, but it's not time to scream. It's time to share facts, not time to complain.
When we are at our best, and when we stand together, we CAN be the change we want to see.
I voted for and continue to support a competent intellectual. I do not think that he is a sell out. All the Goofy old Party driven dribble that emanates from the low IQ set, does not shake my confidence in my Commander in Chief.
I let no one in my head.
Taken at face value, the Public Option as a theory makes sense, however there may be other ways to achieve the same results in the market place. Currently there are fifty one Blue Cross Blue Shield companies. One for each state and the District of Columbia. Each one restricted to doing business within the confines of their state.
It may be possible to introduce real competition to the health care industry by removing these artificial restrictions. We did not elect an idiot. Have a little confidence in your own judgment as well as the president’s.
You are correct. We did not elect an idiot, he knows exactly what he is doing. We elected a coward. I have confidence in my observation of the absence of leadership, or even ability for leadership. He is as they said about him, a Chicago politician who fooled the vast majority of the people who voted for him.
I hope the House members make good on their promise...no public option, No Bill!!
What I'm trying to say is EVERYTHING is still in play and for you to write him off as already having caved, is no different than the right wingers screaming that the stimulus didn't work when it's only 4 months into a 2 year plan. Keep the passion but chill out on the premature failure cr@p.
BC is BS !
This man we elected Presudent has been nlind sided by things no Presidetn has ever faced and even a rigged system to prevent him from making a lot of changes easy.
Laws and rules passed to make changing the laws to stop the corruption and re-estiblish oversight of Military Contracts takes and act of Congress. Just to do Oversight of Military Contractors. Imagine a contractor taking your money and telling you NO I DON'T HAVE TO ACCOUNT FOR THE MONEY !!!
Darn ! Lead ? Help the man get out of the minefield Bush and the Republicans laid for him !!!!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST!!!!
Define it as you will, but unfortunately, this is the only conclusion to draw.
EVEN if he were to step up at the plate, with new rhetoric, he has already P**ssed off so many people, who would believe him?
This is where the forever faithful fall down.
8 months?
And they don't want any criticism?
I believe this is ample time to lead on the issues.
My question to them is how bad do you really want things to get before you ask POTUS to stand up for the people?
You are correct, Obama has shown ZERO leadership, and that's what counts.
He also has broken promise after promise, from his "I will close Gitmo on my
first day in office." Now we never even hear about this.
As I have said, should we really be surprised, look at his record - he never
stood up or fought for anything when he was in the United States Senate,
he began running for President as soon as he got there. Even though,
he "promised" he would not.
And when he was a State Senator he never fought or stood up for anything,
remember all those "Present" votes - so he wouldn't have to fight or take a
stand. He has shown ZERO leadership - ZERO.
And he has shafted the people who worked for him, contributed to his campaign,
he has spent most of his time on his knees to the Republicans.
I think he has made some significant changes, specifically in the way the adminstration shares information, the environmental efforts it has emphasized, and it seems to be posturing for wider moves in the areas of gay and lesbian rights among a whole host of other issues.
I will agree with you on the idea that he is a mere shell of the man I voted for, but I also have to keep reminding myself that he didn't vote himself into office. He was thrust into it on a wave of momentum that came from a massive and mobilized populous of supporters. Where are we now?
The Right has always been better at mobilizing and sticking to the message, but last election, it seemed like we finally turned that around. But right after the election, we all gave ourselves a big pat on the back and quietly went home to wait for "change to happen".
Nothing will change unless we DEMAND it, the way we did November 4th.
PUBLIC. OPTION. NOW.