SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Why Is Obama Ditching the Public Option -- and You?
Dec 23, 2009
Obama apparently doesn't think he campaigned on a pubic option, just because he mentioned it during his campaign and included it in his health care plan. Why would that be?
Well, a couple of days ago my eyebrows raised when I saw this CNN poll on health care.
It indicates that Obama's popularity has risen since the public option
was removed from the plan. More interesting is the fact that support
for the Senate/White House plan rose too, even though the public option
had been more popular than the Senate/White House bill by a wide margin.
The Obama White House managed to successfully triangulate against
the public option by saying it was too "liberal," and presenting their
corporate-friendly plan that gives Aetna and PhRMA everything they want
as "centrist" by comparison. Because that's the left/right puke funnel
that the media must feed everything through. So even though taking out
the public option goes against public opinion, because "liberals" will
be upset, it must be a good "sensible" thing to do.
Having Joe Lieberman act as front man was the perfect delivery mechanism for achieving that goal.
Obama is triangulating against you today. They want all those
diaries of outrage by "liberals," so that right wingers will look on
and think "good for him - like Joe Lieberman, he really knows how to
stick it to liberals." It's the move of a deeply cynical politician who
believes in nothing but shameless manipulation for political
convenience. Meanwhile, the media will completely overlook the fact
that this bill is nothing but a corporate giveaway written by sleazy
greedy whores willing to hold the nation's sick hostage in order to
pull off the biggest Shock Doctrine scam in world history.
When I saw that CNN poll, I realized immediately that this media
dynamic must change. Dramatically. Because if it doesn't, Obama - and
all his fellow corporatists - will use it to easily deflect any
challenge to their continuing grand ambitions for a Bailout Nation.
So let's change it.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
© 2023 FireDogLake
Obama apparently doesn't think he campaigned on a pubic option, just because he mentioned it during his campaign and included it in his health care plan. Why would that be?
Well, a couple of days ago my eyebrows raised when I saw this CNN poll on health care.
It indicates that Obama's popularity has risen since the public option
was removed from the plan. More interesting is the fact that support
for the Senate/White House plan rose too, even though the public option
had been more popular than the Senate/White House bill by a wide margin.
The Obama White House managed to successfully triangulate against
the public option by saying it was too "liberal," and presenting their
corporate-friendly plan that gives Aetna and PhRMA everything they want
as "centrist" by comparison. Because that's the left/right puke funnel
that the media must feed everything through. So even though taking out
the public option goes against public opinion, because "liberals" will
be upset, it must be a good "sensible" thing to do.
Having Joe Lieberman act as front man was the perfect delivery mechanism for achieving that goal.
Obama is triangulating against you today. They want all those
diaries of outrage by "liberals," so that right wingers will look on
and think "good for him - like Joe Lieberman, he really knows how to
stick it to liberals." It's the move of a deeply cynical politician who
believes in nothing but shameless manipulation for political
convenience. Meanwhile, the media will completely overlook the fact
that this bill is nothing but a corporate giveaway written by sleazy
greedy whores willing to hold the nation's sick hostage in order to
pull off the biggest Shock Doctrine scam in world history.
When I saw that CNN poll, I realized immediately that this media
dynamic must change. Dramatically. Because if it doesn't, Obama - and
all his fellow corporatists - will use it to easily deflect any
challenge to their continuing grand ambitions for a Bailout Nation.
So let's change it.
Obama apparently doesn't think he campaigned on a pubic option, just because he mentioned it during his campaign and included it in his health care plan. Why would that be?
Well, a couple of days ago my eyebrows raised when I saw this CNN poll on health care.
It indicates that Obama's popularity has risen since the public option
was removed from the plan. More interesting is the fact that support
for the Senate/White House plan rose too, even though the public option
had been more popular than the Senate/White House bill by a wide margin.
The Obama White House managed to successfully triangulate against
the public option by saying it was too "liberal," and presenting their
corporate-friendly plan that gives Aetna and PhRMA everything they want
as "centrist" by comparison. Because that's the left/right puke funnel
that the media must feed everything through. So even though taking out
the public option goes against public opinion, because "liberals" will
be upset, it must be a good "sensible" thing to do.
Having Joe Lieberman act as front man was the perfect delivery mechanism for achieving that goal.
Obama is triangulating against you today. They want all those
diaries of outrage by "liberals," so that right wingers will look on
and think "good for him - like Joe Lieberman, he really knows how to
stick it to liberals." It's the move of a deeply cynical politician who
believes in nothing but shameless manipulation for political
convenience. Meanwhile, the media will completely overlook the fact
that this bill is nothing but a corporate giveaway written by sleazy
greedy whores willing to hold the nation's sick hostage in order to
pull off the biggest Shock Doctrine scam in world history.
When I saw that CNN poll, I realized immediately that this media
dynamic must change. Dramatically. Because if it doesn't, Obama - and
all his fellow corporatists - will use it to easily deflect any
challenge to their continuing grand ambitions for a Bailout Nation.
So let's change it.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.