I have not been posting for the past few months, swamped by work related issues, but I have not stopped following the biggest spectacle that does not have its own television show, "The Public Option Drama Hour".
The rumors, innuendos, uncited sources, cited sources, blanket statements, vague statements, speeches, the word "public option", Olympia Snowe, scurred Democratic Senators, fierce House Progressives, The White House and Barack Obama are a daily staple for those of us who follow congress on the health care and other innane issues that govern our lives.
At this point, every political junky following the congress knows which Democrats side with the public option being included in the final bill and which Democrats do not. We know that. My frustration is at the White House and why we need to have Senator Olympia Snowe to sign off on any final health care legislation? I have YET, to hear the White House explain this in reality terms, when the fight is amongst Democrats.
Is the word bipartisan that important to President Obama and the Obama White House? If it is, I have news for them, "One vote from a Republican does not make it bipartisan. It makes it a joke if you try to tout it as such." Is the Obama White House getting this message? Are the light bulbs on at that joint? I don't think so.
There are rumors swirling around that the senate leadership will include an opt out public option in their merged bill to be announced sometime this afternoon. If that comes to fruition, progressive advocacy will have something to show for a summer of relentless action.
The rumors, innuendos, uncited sources, cited sources, blanket statements, vague statements, speeches, the word "public option", Olympia Snowe, scurred Democratic Senators, fierce House Progressives, The White House and Barack Obama are a daily staple for those of us who follow congress on the health care and other innane issues that govern our lives.
At this point, every political junky following the congress knows which Democrats side with the public option being included in the final bill and which Democrats do not. We know that. My frustration is at the White House and why we need to have Senator Olympia Snowe to sign off on any final health care legislation? I have YET, to hear the White House explain this in reality terms, when the fight is amongst Democrats.
Is the word bipartisan that important to President Obama and the Obama White House? If it is, I have news for them, "One vote from a Republican does not make it bipartisan. It makes it a joke if you try to tout it as such." Is the Obama White House getting this message? Are the light bulbs on at that joint? I don't think so.
There are rumors swirling around that the senate leadership will include an opt out public option in their merged bill to be announced sometime this afternoon. If that comes to fruition, progressive advocacy will have something to show for a summer of relentless action.
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Your comment on Pres. Obama's fruitless search for bipartisanship is right on the mark. I have been losing sleep over his snail-like approach to governance. Nothing seems to be moving for me; perhaps I am one of those eager-beaver "Obambis" who expected a quick turn-around of events. That's right, it won't be easy, but I know this as much: I am less than happy about the way Mr. Obama is moving about in the governance arena. He is being tentative, too calculating, too "common grounded" (in the words of Leon Wisieltier, the literary editor of the New Republic). I want Mr. Obama to drop his fruitless gambits for republican support; he will not have any (save for, may be, one of the Mainers). These republicans will continue to hope for and work towards, Mr. Obama's collapse.
It is not my wish to second-guess the president; for God knows that Mr. Obama was second-guessed several times during the campaign but he proved most of us the doubting Thomases wrong. But the campaigning has been over or has it? I want Mr. Obama to really act like he is governing, meaning, sometimes, showing a stiff upper lip, twisting political arms to get your wish, and to tell these republicans what the former British prime minister John Major once told his critics: "put up or shut up."