Show some spine, Mr. President by Helen Thomas

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

He probably will have to stand and stand hard but it is inevitable that there will be no republican support for any legislation while he is in office. I believe he knows that.

Time.

(when it's crunch time) he'll go in for the kill and get it done. In the name of Ted Kennedy now!

Maybe you can read his mind and know what exactly he's going to do, but for the rest of us, we're still waiting for verbal commitments and actions to back them up. If he's not able to do that in the system we're in now, then the system needs to be fixed, and he needs to threaten to make that the top priority to do first instead (PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING!!!!).

There's many things that we're still "waiting" for him to play his big cards on (torture, state secrets privilege reform, health care, free trade reform, etc.). It's about time some of these "cards" get played, if he's to expect to believe that he's going to play them at some point.

I agree. I've heard Obama talk a lot about what he's going to do for gays, unions and all of the groups that supported him. But what has he done? When is he going to do these things? I voted for someone that would get out there and do the things he promised. Maybe I'm overly anxious ..... but I hope we don't just another status quo politician.

Let the GOP decide if they dare to vote party-line against it. All the better for us if they do. They'll wander in the desert for 40 years.

Mandated Health Insurance with a castrated "Public Option" not open to "The Public" will mean $BILLIONS flowing into their pockets.

The Health Insurance Lobbyists could not have written a better bill.

:fistbump:

President Obama needs to listen to my Nana.

A GOOD Public Option for ALL who want it!

You tell him, Helen!!!!

:applause:

"I remember when Johnson was very unhappy with his friend Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and veering away from support for the Vietnam War.

At a White House reception, Johnson beckoned Church over for a chat and said: "Now Frank, just where do you get your ideas about Vietnam?"

"From Walter Lippmann, the great political columnist," Church replied.

"Well," said Johnson, "the next time you need a dam in Idaho, you just ask Walter Lippmann.""

his way..not Helen Thomas' or anyone else who isn't the President.

Easy to sit back and whine.."show some spine":silly:

:patriot:

it's the only thing keeping his large brain upright.

On a normal day, I'd call that the post of the night!

You're at least two months behind deary ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4.kYDWV9erc

If not longer....
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-considers-50-vote-strategy-on-energy-healthcare-2009-03-01.html

Lots of folks are getting wound up in the WH's spin ....... sad to see that Helen is one of them.

getting senile in her thinking.

.

I've always been up-front about that. That dude many folks worship as a god, is a fallible mortal man as far as I'm concerned.

I already saw the counteroffensive threads, but since this is a day of mourning, I'll bite my tongue and stay away from them.

;)

you're NICER than me! :hug:

:pals:

blind faith, unthinking worship, unlimited ability to ignore evidence to the contary, intolerance of dissent, which is deemed--without evidence--not just wrong but evil ("heresy," "blasphemy").

:)

.

I guess that they have made the full move to extreme base.

:rofl:

talking the democrats down only helps your republican buddies.

I my eye is on the ball. Much more than can be said for your pedantic confusion.

Oh All Seeing One. :eyes:

and here it is!

I must be psychic!

:sarcasm:

/snark

The 1984 ref is beast.

Only reasonable people who understand the country they live in.

You're arguing like a right winger, showing that the extremes can be the same in tone if different in policy.

I could respond by calling you a foot stamping child who wants things that can't be right now. But i won't. :hide:

Those who are happy with right-wing policies, as long as they are enacted by Democrats, are part of it. Insurance reform that does not include public option, especially if it has an individual mandate, is a bonanza for big insurance and right-wing policy at its "best."

:applause:

Wish the prez was as passionate about policy as he was about campaigning.

Obama, stop being a wishy-washy spineless jellyfish! Be what Teddy wanted you to be! The holder of the TORCH!

As always.

yet there are so many elders out there who bring wisdom, courage and clarity that comes from living through history.

I tend to listen to people "who have forgotten more about life and a particular subject, than most will ever know". Helen Thomas fits that bill.

or errr... Rush Limbaugh.

Obama has political capital. He has broad public support for the public option.

NOW is the time for Obama to act forcefully.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4034269

Asked if they supported the gov't offering low-cost insurance for those who can not obtain private insurance, over 60% of Republicans said "yes".

It is only in Congress that the percentage dips to 0%. As long as we have bipartisan support among the population, Obama can claim bipartisan support regardless of how the Republic congress-critters vote.

:kick:

Just sayin...

It just might work, because the President tried to be bipartisan.

Don't waste your time, Mister President.

It is time to give up the fantasy of passing a health care plan that has the support of a party dominated by insincere and unpatriotic extremist who state openly that they are determined to make his whole administration fail - no matter what the cost - no matter how much it harms the country.

You are a treasure.

But it's too easy for reporters and DU posters to judge - all they have to do is see they aren't getting exactly what they want and focus in on the President.

How is the President to change the mind of a Republican or a Blue Dog - he can try but the essence of our system is that they have power, too.

Perhaps seeing Bush claiming he was the decider got the left dreaming of a left wing decider? Obama has always been about restoring the constitutional system.

This country is not liberal, period. Or, it's not going to make such a change quickly. Such changes are never made on a dime, but only gradually. It took since 1980 to get this conservative and it's turning around, but only beginning to.