Kucinich's Brave Health Vote vs. Obama's Failed Promise
By Lee Stranahan
November 8, 2009
There were plenty of cowardly votes in the House last night but there was only one truly brave one. The unsung hero of the night was Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. Despite enormous pressure to support H.R. 3962, Rep. Kucinich did the right thing and voted 'no.' Unlike the Blue Dog votes against the bill, he did it for all the right reasons.
In a principled and practical statement, Rep. Kucinich said what a growing number of progressives have realized as we've watched real health care reform be compromised again and again.
Personally, I supported President Obama in the primaries and the election but do not support him on this corporate giveaway built on broken campaign promises. I voted for the Barack Obama who opposed the individual mandate, who said the negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN and who campaigned against backroom deals with PhARMA.
Don't let anyone fool you that this bill is a good start. It's got a poison pill "Public Option" that is designed to fail.
Even if it passes in its weak form, this public option will be the target of the GOP for years and they won't rest until it is dead. As the public option kicks into gear, they will find stories of 'rationing' and denial of care they can highlight, true or not. They will use the higher costs as proof of the public option's folly. They will grind away at the public option relentlessly but they will leave the individual mandate alone. If anything, once the mandate is in place, the Republicans will make sure the insurance industry is 'free to compete' and unrestricted.
Please read the complete article at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/kucinichs-brave-health-vo_b_349857.html
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