White House Believes 'Liberal Angst' Over Healthcare Will Go Away

[StarfarerBill]

By Donna Smith

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better it is to be of humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
- Proverbs 16: 18-19, the Bible

My Grandma Delphia used to quote that Bible verse. I wonder if other folks heard the same from their grandmothers. I am pretty sure some folks at the highest levels in our government either didn't trust or honor their grandmothers' teachings or they just flat don't think rules of common decency and our shared humanity apply.

Many of us knew in 2008 what the Republicans had in store for us in the area of healthcare reform, and we firmly and overwhelmingly rejected those plans. Instead we took seriously the threat that a John McCain presidency meant taxation of our healthcare benefits and other healthcare horrors, and we overwhelmingly rejected those ideas. We had great angst about the potential that anyone would look at the suffering embedded in the U.S. healthcare system and allow it to continue and even grow worse.

Our angst moved us in another direction at the polls. We were promised by the Democrats that no one with an income under $250,000 per year would have any increase in taxes at all to cover healthcare reform, and we were also heartened to hear Barack Obama state firmly and without hesitation that healthcare is a basic human right.

Whew. Finally, we had firm, clear promises that seemed grounded in progressive, fair-minded ideals and common sense along with the vision of our shared humanity. Healthcare as a human right would not only be on the radar, we thought, but it would serve as the benchmark for any reform under such a leader as Barack Obama - and those elected officials who supported him.

We let down our angst a bit too much it seems. For within a few short weeks of the start of the healthcare reform discussion, in March of 2009, President Obama signaled he might consider a health benefits tax to pay for reform.

Our angst was tickled. Many of us fought through the spring and summer to be heard. Though the tea party craziness garnered much media attention, others fought as hard and as passionately with little impact. The history of this healthcare reform struggle in 2009 and 2010 will be recorded by many with varied viewpoints and various degrees of accuracy. No need to replay all of those torturous details here

And by the time we reached Christmas Eve 2009, any reference to "healthcare reform" had been replaced by the more politically practical (so some must have thought) terms "health insurance reform," and all reference to healthcare as a basic human right had long since been squelched.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/10

[Lasher]

1. Taking his base for granted.

He might get away with that. He might not. We shall see.

[tango-tee]

25. Only to be taken for granted

until there is gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.

This will not end well.

[Warpy]

2. They (and I assume Rahm, mostly) are making two fatal mistakes

First, they're assuming liberals are a tiny minority in the party. They're not. Liberals are the majority, no matter what they might call themselves. Liberal positions are centrist positions, something men like Rahm have completely missed.

Second, they assume that only liberals are upset by the pro corporate, anti American nature of this 'reform' bill. Conservatives are also upset because the health insurance mess has long since reached a tipping point and just about everyone in this country has known someone who has been harmed by insurance companies. Even conservatives know they're getting cheated out of rising expectations by the endless appetite of the heath insurance conglomerate for their raises, and more.

I seriously want to slap some sense into these men before they recreate the conditions that led to the Congressional rout of Democrats in 1994.

That's exactly where we're heading, you know, and for the same reason.

[Lasher]

19. True, and another thing:

They think that they can more than make up for liberal losses by winning over some independents and conservatives. For reasons you have described this is leaving a bad taste in independents' mouths. But more importantly, Obama will never win any conservatives over no matter how many concessions are made.

But like I said upthread, we'll see. A lot can change in a year or three and voters can have short term memories.

[baldguy]

3. It will, along with their votes.

[emilyg]

31. You got it.

[shadesofgray]

4. "We're not overly concerned about these things"

No shit.

The Obama administration's indifference to and downright contempt for hopes of the people who voted for him as shown in the quotes in the NPR article is one of the most dispiriting/insulting things I have ever seen.

I hope Obama enjoys being a one-term president.

[KoKo]

5. White House will say: "Well who are they going to vote for? We are their only choice."

That's the problem. K&R

[Warpy]

6. They forgot our other choice

Staying home.

Voting requires some effort and too many people who are in the dead center of all the issues and are being ignored are going to sit on their hands.

Conservatives seem incapable of learning anything, especially when their own dogma fails them time and time again.

Conservatives are always the problem. They can never be part of any solution.

[Daveparts still]

8. They will vote for

staying home and staying home will win in a landslide.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. There are alternatives to staying home. Stay-at-homes are not counted

and whichever of the D's and R's wins, even if it's 6% versus 4% of eligible voters, will claim a "landslide" and a "mandate."

Also, your local government races can have a tremendous impact on your quality of life. If your state Dems insist on nominating a Blue Dog, vote for the downballot races (city council, school board, mayor, etc.) and leave the space for Congresscritter blank, choose a third party, or write someone in.

In that case, you WILL be counted as part of the turnout.

I'm lucky in that my Congresscritter is from the lefter end of the party, but I feel sorry for progressives out in western Minnesota, who have Colin Peterson, a prime example of an "elephant in a donkey jacket."

[NorthCarolina]

29. In the general election maybe..but in the Primaries I am voting for the Liberal Opponent if one

exists.

[Froward69]

7. Aim squarely at foot

Pull trigger...

[tavalon]

9. Rahm

STFU.

[daa]

10. He really needs to look at what the

christian right did to republicans by staying home.

My job went to India in 2002. I have been sitting around waiting to get Medicare and hoping my wife doesn't lose her job in the meantime. As a diabetic, NO ONE should go through what I have gone through and I wanted change and I voted for change and I contributed for change. And do you think I am excited about insurance reform? Same high prices, no cost controls? The rest of the world has change I believed in and this isn't it.

After a decade on less people working now than in 1999, after a decade of the the stock market lower that in 1999, at least health care would have enriched lives, saved lives by offering preventative care instead of treating illness after the fact. This is the only country that does not use the preventative model. And you can believe all those high paid CEOs and high paid lawyers will be figuring out the new rescission and continuing to screw us. Why do we pay higher drug costs than even Canada???

We will forget? Good luck with that one if you are running on that. Not being Bush will NOT get you reelected.

[tom_paine]

11. Translation: STFU and start canvassing & making those calls

As the Democratic Party has rushed headlong into becoming DLC/Repug Lite, they are increasingly a Party without a base, a constintuency.

Sad, but I no longer think it's all a horrible mistake.

It's part of the Good Cop/Bad Cop dumbshow of the Aristocracy for us Plebs.

It's quite clear that the Aristocracy is prepping us for the rapid return of Bad Cop, just like in '94.

Its a big sucker's play, and we're the suckers.

Bad Cop is coming, it's what the Aristocracy wants. And in the Americccan Empire, the aristocracy ALWAYS gets what it wants.

[tavalon]

12. I used to like this guy!

Here's a quote from the same article:

"We're not overly concerned about these things, first and foremost because there isn't an election tomorrow, not an election the next day," says Dan Pfeiffer, White House communications director.

[tavalon]

26. I figured the White House would have walked this one back by now

Was this part of the weekend dump or a test balloon? Or both, perhaps?

[tavalon]

27. I mistook this guy for Robert Gibbs

I guess this one is just too much of peon for anyone but us to notice what he said.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Yeah, because, if the last ten years blogging is any indication,

Liberal angst dissipates easily.

:sarcasm:

[krispos42]

14. The "liberal angst" is driven by real angst, yanno.

People dying, people going bankrupt, people hospitalized, etc.


For years, many illnesses, deaths, bankruptcies, loss of jobs, etc., will be prefaced with "if the corporatist dems hadn't fucked up, this wouldn't have happened".

[OHdem10]

15. There is a strong possibility they are listening to Clinton and

over the years the Liberals have time after time caved in
for the "good of the party" and they assume this will happen
once again.

They forget that Obama ran and was supposed to be the Anti-Clinton.
(Memories fade fast??)

They do not realize that every human has a breaking point.
Liberals/Progressives may just have reached the boiling
point. They will no longer be kicked to the back of the
room. As a Liberal I like President Clinton but I believe
he made serious mistakes which led to reinforcing the GOP
Conservatism. Nafta and Glass-Stegall, for example.

IMO, they had better not just assume Democrat rank and
file are going to swallow this RW HCIR Bill. I am beginning
to see the Democrats as not that much different from Republicans
in DC. Why should I support a RW Democratic Party. There
are Democrats who are saying--the party has left me.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Bill Clinton is also the one that gave us NAFTA

He profited while the rest of us saw our factories and jobs move to Mexico.

[Captain Hilts]

17. It's all Bill Clinton's fault!!!!! Isn't he amazing! I guess Emanuel gets a day off from fault. nt

[winyanstaz]

18. It is not going to go away...

I think it may well be the straw that broke the camels back.

[Vidar]

20. K&R.

[Fearless]

22. I've got a bridge I'm selling... Takers?

[bemildred]

23. Anyone who thinks concern about health care is "liberal angst" has his head buried in his ass. nt

[Zoeisright]

24. It's not 'angst': it's anger. Lots of it. More like rage.

And no, it will NOT go away.

[undeterred]

28. So when nothing gets better

-premiums continue to go up, the uninsured continue to file for bankruptcy or die, and big pharma continues to overcharge- we're all going to congratulate Obama for being the first president to pass a health care reform bill in 70 years?

Not likely.

[Fearless]

30. Yes because we're small children who's opinions are ill-informed and don't matter...

:eyes:

[Vidar]

32. All Obama has to do is click his heels together. Sadly, he may be right--

just like his politics.