Gibbs just now: President Obama "prefers" a public option

They just.dont.get.it.

These weasel words is why they are losing their base.

Fuck the "prefers", how about "DEMANDS" or "will only sign a bill that includes"?

:shrug:

I will veto any bill with no strong public option, is that so god damn hard!?!

Veto and start all over again, this time let single payer have a place at the table, tell the insurance people to fuck off.

I might just prefer to stay home that day if the Obama administration takes a dive on healthcare, and keeps acting like they're Republican-lite.

that.

You can take that message to the rest of the "who else are you gonna vote for" crowd, too. What was the point of voting for Obama if he's going to capitulate like this?

I gave him the benefit of the doubt until now, although his extreme mealy-mouthedness has been evident from the beginning. Now it is obvious that this is the message they wish to convey.

think so at all. You all have no idea what's going on behind the scenes in dealing with the fucking repuke shits and the fucking mediawhores.

Any argument that asks us to rely on information only available to insiders is...shaky.

can you do a better job(?) better yet, judging by your knee jerk reaction
it's pointless of me to asked.

I'm waiting for the party to prove it's been anything other than witheringly useless since 1980...

They have a strategy that's way beyond all this "he's got to say the right words or I'm going to get my shorts in a twit".

Fucking parsing words to get your vent on. Whatever.

You have no information at all, but you have some kind of weird faith even though the tea leaves tell us that Obama is going to betray us on the public option without a pushback (a pushback you are actively trying to prevent, btw). All of the signs are pointing to another capitulation.

You argue based on authority....."they know more than we do", which is itself a logical fallacy. And you should know that.

You've been doing this blind faith thing for weeks, chastizing and insulting other DUers who do not share such a faith.

This is what you do not get: we are NOT a cult of personality. Many DUers have a hard time with faith in God much less a politicians who has already disappointed us numerous times. If you have such a faith, understand that your fellow DUers do not, and no amount of bullying and cajoling is going to change that.

Of course, I know that my post will not change your behavior one bit, but it needs to be said because your behavior is annoying as hell, based on blind faith, and contributes nothing.

diatribe. I have history that President Obama knows what the fuck he's doing.

And, yeah, you're right..your feelings on the subject are not going to change how I feel about what this admin is trying to do inspite of the fucking media, rwdeadenders, and people who freak out at the way Robert Gibbs says something.

Time for President Obama to start channeling FDR and LBJ. I'm wondering if he's too inexperienced for the job. I believe one of the radio hosts called for him to stop acting like a Senator and to start behaving like a President.

More phony outrage directed at the wrong damn people.

we do want authoritative and persuasive and sometimes persuasive can involve both a carrot and a stick.

Do tell.

works for me

Especially since such a tactic would probably fail in these red states.

Get with the program and the President et al will campaign for you. Oppose the Admin, and you're on your own. No money, no support, nada. In fact, we'll find someone to run against you.

Who the hell cares if the Blue Dogs are reelected? If they're going to vote with Repubs, then they're useless.

He frequently visited the Senate and he knew where all the closets with the skeletons were and where the bodies were buried. He didn't mind shaking up a recalcitrant Senator or two to get them to change their vote to something he liked better. Obama maybe doesn't have all those things in his playbook but he can promise to help those Senators with a pet pork project if they change their vote on this issue. He certainly needs to replace a lot of his DLC "K" street friendly advisors and listen to the people. We are the ones who filled the Denver stadium and the Mall on Inauguration day, not the insurance companies and HMOs.

That allegation is pretty scary.

Johnson was the FREAKING MAJORITY LEADER so of course he knew where the bodies were buried, for 1. For 2, Johnson had a Senate that was much more willing to oblige progress than what President Obama has. Its not the same situation and can not be played out the same way. To suggest otherwise is just pure ignorance of the political realities in the year 2009.

that LBJ did, he shouldn't be assertive in trying to get Senators to see things his way and he shouldn't use some of LBJ's tactics that might work for him? That doesn't speak much for his leadership. Also, FDR had a few tricks up his sleeve that Obama could learn from. Both managed to get programs passed that had overwhelming opposition from the corporate and monied class. Actually, his hero Lincoln knew how to get things done in the face of opposition as well. He needs to study how they did it.

Which neither of those guys had to deal with the kind of media we have today. And I'm sure he knows a lot more about how those Presidents got things done than you do.

But yea, its a stupid comparison because its not the same at all.

time bomb waiting for Obama if he can't finish those wars Bush got us into. Also, FDR got elected to a third term after he got Social Security passed. So it isn't the passing of social programs that hurt them.

to run. However, I know he would have had a better chance of beating Nixon if he had run, so there is no use in speculating. Many Democrats stayed home when McGovern lost in the primary, but they would have turned out for LBJ. I know. I was alive then and I knew how my peers were thinking.

and it always seems to work well for Republicans in general...

It's the, "you either vote for what I want or I'm going to cut off federal funds for whatever pet projects you've got going in your state", school of leadership. As opposed to the "If I ask real nice and make an argument based on the moral superiority of my position, will you support my bill, pretty please?", school of leadership.

The latter never seems to work very well - but liberals can always go home, lick their wounds, and find comfort in the fact that they are still better people than conservatives.

How gullible can you be?

Because I just ate, and that stupid excuse always makes me queasy.

.

For months I have been blown away by how many have been willing to fall for this old trick.

Just a couple weeks ago this would have mollified most here, it's refreshing to see that more and more people aren't falling for it.

.

Instead of pushing back on the weasel words, you and others like you denied what was obviously happening and accuse others who have been raising the flag of making it up. I hope your happy at the situation you helped to create.

No guarantees, though.

:)

Then clamp down on what is really wanted when the bills are merged. If Obama goes nuclear about the Public Option, the entire "government takeover" meme is seized and the bill will be stalled.

This is about controlling the message so the process doesn't get out of hand prematurely.

Has any sweeping health care bill ever made it is this far? I don't think so.

Hold on to your horses.

.

even further, and we've got huge majorities, a landslide Presidential victory, and a mandate for change.

Why not make some demands?

We could gripe about how it was killed for years!

:rofl:

interesting. Prez Obama is one who learns from the past..others should take note.

a number of audiences that they are trying to reach with every word they say.

Would I prefer that he demand a public option? Yes. In fact, I wish he would demand single payer. But there is a game being played.

.

It seems so obvious to me but the parsing word games just gotta be played.

President Obama is the one who said he was for it and all this other speculation is just..that.

Happy Birthday!!! :party:

to FDR's Presidential Library on my 65th birthday to Cosmically thank the man..and check out Eleanor's contribution to our country!

Thank you, :party:alsame:hi:

had a great time.:)

chilling!

How is it helpful?

I do know that President Obama does not have 60 progressive Democratic votes for healthcare. According to some sources, he doesn't even have 50.

If he has to parse words to make a bill palatable for some in Congress (and their constituents), then he should do so.

Until I see a bill without a public option, I'm not going to assume there won't be one.

How about orders?


Dumb!

We can mealy-mouth all day what "prefers" means... the main thing we need to focus on is that there are five bills in committee that then get amendments tagged on to them in Congress and are then strained into a single bill after the Senate nibbles on all the bills. Then the bills get made into one bill in committees and then go back to the Congress and Senate and get knawed on. If and when the bill is ready, it goes to the President... who signs it or vetos it...

The President doesn't make the bills. He advises on what he wants and what he PREFERS. This is basic stuff.

Maybe he's just trying to chill out the teabaggers from totally going off. I listened to Rush for the first few minutes of his show yesterday and he was advising his audience not to get complacent. He must have sensed that there was a ploy in play regarding announcing the killing of public option.

During his campaign he insisted that a public option must be part of reform, saying it was the only way to keep the insurance industry honest.

:sarcasm:

Now I recall hearing a statement by POTUS on public option (perhaps even single payer?). When they're running for office, it's like they're drunk and just say anything that comes to mind and deny it the next day! Oh well, I am still holding out hope that he understands how much it'll piss off the public royally if he takes it completely off the table.

Per CNN and MSNBC and, of course, Fox.

He's doing fine, just fine.

:applause:

Same as dumping it.

We have been betrayed.

There is no doubt about it.

:shrug:

I wonder if they'll detest Pres Obama too?


I guess they'll start making excuses.