Show some spine, Mr. President by Helen Thomas [View All]

Show some spine, Mr. President
By Helen Thomas
August 26, 2009


President Obama should stop trying to win bipartisan support for national health care reform legislation.

Obama seems loath to put pressure on fellow Democrats to embrace a government-run health insurance program as part of his reform plan.

Instead, the president has waffled on this key point, most recently saying that it's "only a sliver" of his health care reform goals.

This mushy approach is designed to win Republican votes in Congress. But Obama should recognize that hard-line Republicans are never going to support his health reform program because, for them, the Obama health proposals are a sideshow. Their real goal is to limit his presidency to one term.

He should put his foot down and say that a government-sponsored health insurance agency is absolutely necessary to compete against private companies and keep their rates low. And he should accept the reality that any congressional victory will be won by Democrats -- not by some imaginary bipartisan coalition.

If Obama wants to win, he could tear a page out of Lyndon B. Johnson's book on sure-fire ways to overcome congressional resistance.

Read on at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=46281