Obama Pushed Today for a Bi-Partisan Healthcare Bill and is "flexible" on its provisions

Obama drops in to push Senate healthcare timeline
By Sam Youngman
The Hill
June 10, 2009

In an unannounced meeting at the White House, President Obama pushed key senators from both sides of the aisle to stick to their deadline for bringing healthcare reform to the Senate floor.

Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) told reporters that the president continues to push for a bipartisan approach to the bill and he is flexible on many of the provisions but not the deadline.

Grassley emphasized that the president is pushing for a bipartisan bill, and he said his idea of a proposal endorsed by both sides of the aisle "is not a Democratic bill with five or six Republicans going along with it."

But Grassley noted that Obama is not giving in on his push to get a bill soon.

"I thought the president was flexible except in one area, and that was get something done," Grassley said.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-drops-in-to-push-senate-healthcare-timeline-2009-06-10.html

Thinking that the Pukes are full of good intentions may just be President Obama's downfall.

voted you into office.

You are very flexible in bending over for Republicans.

the impression that you want to work with them

He will come out swinging and fighting for us to be "flexible" soon! This is the man you want in your corner.

Many of us are going to lose faith in Obama if he give us anything less than a powerful public option.

Trying to get something passed before more of the public figures out we're being screwed?

Better they take there time and come up with something that might actually do us some good.

and it is quite disappointing. This is how Bush operated when trying to ram crap like NCLB through. Any rushed Health Care "reform" will be just as much of a joke as any aspect of Bush's domestic agenda.

our voice in getting single payer or at least a public option with teeth in it. Maybe we need to flood the White House with calls too. We don't need bi-partisan. Only a third of the nation is with the insurance company, corporate for profit health care industry and I don't think even that many are. It's time for Obama to start listening to the majority who voted him into office.

IMO anyone who posts about the health care system daily should also be firing off their opinions to those with their hands on the levers of power daily.

...that compromising with crazy people makes you half-crazy at best. The Republicans are nuts. They need mental health care not compromise. Put in the reform bill.

SENATORS: OBAMA WANTS BIPARTISAN BILL
From NBC’s Ken Strickland
June 10, 2009

The bipartisan group of Senate leaders drafting the health-care reform bill just finished a meeting with President Obama at the White House. The consensus from the group was that the president wants a bipartisan bill.

"The president made it very clear that he prefers a bipartisan solution," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/10/1959072.aspx

of interest being that the health care industry through their Washington lobbyists have financed most of his campaigns and are doing so again for the next time he runs for office.

If only there was more support for single payer over public option, then we could claim majority support.
If only Aunt Harriet had balls, then she would be uncle Harry.

Senate health care leaders still set on July
By AMIE PARNES
Politico
June 10, 2009

The four leading senators on health care gathered at the White House Wednesday in what was labeled as “a gathering of the minds,” to discuss how to make the increasingly complex health reform debate bipartisan, while getting a bill to the Senate floor by July.

Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) assured Obama that they would keep to his proposed timeline and pass a bill that would reform the health care system and provide coverage to all Americans regardless of pre-exisiting medical conditions or health status.

“The main point now is that we have to act now,” Baucus said. “All Americans should have health insurance to make this system work and also it’s morally the right thing to do.”

“We discussed various ways to get to yes,” Baucus continued. “The president was very clear that he prefers a bipartisan solution and we do too. All four of us and we’re going to work as hard as we can to fulfill our obligation.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23579.html

:rofl:

That would follow from such logic.

Now watch him set up the narrative. And Dems fail to back him up

Yes, according to press accounts President Obama "will be speaking broadly about his plan".

We need to know and want to hear specifics in his talk, not just broad generalizations. What kind of healthcare legislation is President Obama proposing?

Will President Obama clearly state he only supports a plan that contains a strong public option?
Will President Obama clearly oppose any plan that taxes people's healthcare benefits?
Will President Obama clearly state that he will oppose a plan that requires people to buy coverage from the private health insurance industry or be fined?

Or will President Obama restrict his comments to the vague non-specific legislative "solutions" advocated at his Organizing for America website which declares:

The Solution

Reform the health care system:
We will take steps to reform our system by expanding coverage, improving quality, lowering costs, honoring patient choice and holding insurance companies accountable.

Promote scientific and technological advancements:
We are committed to putting responsible science and technological innovation ahead of ideology when it comes to medical research. We believe in the enormous capacity of American ingenuity to find cures for diseases that continue to extinguish too many lives and cause too much suffering every year.

Improve preventative care:
In order to keep our people healthy and provide more efficient treatment we need to promote smart preventative care, like cancer screenings and better nutrition, and make critical investments in electronic health records, technology that can reduce errors while ensuring privacy and saving lives.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

We shall find out. Stayed tuned.


Obama to hold town-hall style meeting to push healthcare reform
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
June 10, 2009

Obama, who wants to see all Americans covered by healthcare insurance, will be speaking broadly about his plan tomorrow at a town-hall style meeting, and will take questions after his speech. But the specifics of the reform will only emerge over the next few weeks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/10/obama-healthcare-reform

I doubt he'll be laying out any specifics... seeing as how those will be sorted in the markup process.

he's leaving it up to Congressional leaders to decide what should be included or excluded in the legislation.

I find it difficult to believe that President Obama has no views on what kind of healthcare legislation should be adopted except that it should be good.

If that's true, what good is he?

You call that Presidential leadership?

Ever hear of LBJ or FDR?

Who are Obama's "whips" and leaders in the Senate and House that are pushing and proposing a Democratic healthcare bill that President Obama favors?

Oh. I forgot. President Obama wants a bi-partisan bill that won't offend the insurance industry or Republicans.

His preferred method was shot down immediately by congress in favor of taxing benefits, but by all means continue to act as if Obama is the problem. Perhaps that will accomplish something.

When President Obama ran for United States Senator he favored single payer Medicare for All legislation. Later he "downsized" to a strong "public" option.

Tomorrow we may find out if he has retreated any farther toward supporting legislation that would be acceptable to Republicans in the quest for a bi-partisan bill.

Or President Obama might not say anything describing the kind of healthcare legislation he favors.

I just find it amusing that so many people who care so very much about these issues seem to pay so little attention to these details.

except that he wants it to have significant bi-partisan Republican support. Only one kind of bi-partisan healthcare bill can emerge. One that sticks it to the public and enriches the insurance and healthcare industry.

Somehow you seemed to have missed it, consistently, for a full week. Amazing, considering how very very much you care.

The Republicans will never support a strong "public option".

They made that very clear after Obama's statement.

And in response, Obama indicates that he wants to have a bi-partisan healthcare bill. The only way that can happen is if the public option is removed or gutted.

Listen to his speech tomorrow in Wisconsin.

power and it must complete on a level playing field with insurance companies.

If this is true, we are being played.

Ezra Klein came from the very liberal American Prospect and now writes an excellent blog for the Washington Post on the economy and the domestic policy.

Link to the video where Klein said this: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/my_head_blogging.html

If Obama just came out and said "piss up a rope" to the Republicans, they would try much, much harder to block it. That said, if what gets passed is some watered down bill with a weak or absent public option, I'm going to be pretty angry.

...and that part sucks

Blue dogs, Baucus, Conrad do seem emboldened lately touting insurance co. defense.

I think that 50 votes is possible in favor of a very strong public option if President Obama campaigns hard for it.