Grassley:If Obama Doesn’t Publicly Renounce Public Option Now, He’s Not Interested In Bipartisanship [View All]

Grassley: If Obama Doesn’t Publicly Renounce Public Option Now, He’s Not Truly Interested In Bipartisanship

Senator Chuck Grassley now appears to be throwing the gauntlet down before the White House in a way that seems explicitly designed to make trouble for President Obama at an extraordinarily sensitive moment — which will fuel charges he’s not negotiating in good faith.

Specifically: Grassley’s now demanding that Obama publicly repudiate the public option right now to prove he’s truly interested in bipartisan compromise. That, to me, is the most interesting news in this extraordinary interview Grassley gave The Washington Post:

In recent days, however, some Democrats have accused Grassley of trying to undermine the reform effort, for example by refusing to debunk rumors that the Democratic health bills would create “death panels” empowered to decide whether the infirm live or die.

On Wednesday, he denied those claims and fired back at Obama, saying the president should publicly state his willingness to sign a bill without a controversial government-run insurance plan. Such a statement, he said, is “pretty important … if you’re really interested in a bipartisan bill.”

This is partly a paraphrase. But presuming it’s accurate, it’s pretty striking. Grassley knows the White House is under tremendous pressure to contain a revolt on the left over the public option. It’s hard to imagine any reason for demanding Obama renounce the public option right now, before there’s even a bill out of the finance committee, other than to make life politically difficult for the President.

How does that compare with the White House’s treatment of Grassley? When the Senator endorsed the “death panel” claim, the White House reaffirmed its commitment to working with him. Dems quietly let Grassley claim a big victory by dropping the public option from the Senate bill he’s negotiating. And when Rahm Emanuel questioned the sincerity of GOP leaders yesterday, an apparent shot at Grassley, the White House rapidly walked it back.

Grassley, meanwhile, has now raised the bar yet again for what will constitute true bipartisanship on the White House’s part. Pretty telling.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/grassley-obama-should-publicly-drop-public-option-now-to-prove-hes-really-bipartisan/