Remember this: "Anonymous White House Official Slams Liberals Over Public Option"

[still_one]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/anonymous-white-house-official-slams-liberals-over-public-option.php

In case progressives were beginning to feel as if the Obama administration doesn't really care what they think, they can rest assured: the White House hears them loud and clear. It just doesn't like the message.

"I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo," an anonymous senior White House adviser tells the Washington Post. "We've gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don't understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform."

That's probably not a characterization--"left of the left"--liberals would have chosen for more than five dozen members of the Democratic caucus. And it doesn't exactly inspire faith that the White House sees the public option as more than a sliver of reform. But it also doesn't suggest they're expecting House progressives to fold.

And, in a bit of good news for progressives, it comes just as White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel--who could even be the Post's anonymous official--tells the New York Times that the GOP "has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama's health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day."

If health care bipartisanship is dead or dying, then the public option suddenly loses much (though certainly not all) of its political volatility.

[Walk away]

1. 80% of Democrats want the PO. Does that seem like the left of the left?

Why is the POTUS and his staff painting the Democratic party as fringe? This is a big mistake. Do they honestly think they will keep their seats in 2010 and 2012? This is a very bad thing that they are doing.

[still_one]

2. This was in August. In fact the majority of all U.S. citizens want a public option /nt

[mike_c]

4. we're a bunch of fringe moonbats-- didn't you get the memo?

See, the 20 percent that doesn't care about a public option or any other variant of non-private medical insurance is the "middle."

[Walk away]

15. Oh crap! It was in my In Box all this time! I better put on my cape....

and fly off (it being night and all).

[roguevalley]

17. they don't want to unhinge the revolving door from government to

business to government. I personally hope this dork burns in hell.

[EFerrari]

3. This is not a progressive White House.

We might as well process that and figure out if there's any way to interact with it

[Laelth]

5. Sad, but true, and your advice is sound.

You should start a thread posing that question so that we can brainstorm some strategies. What we're doing now obviously isn't working.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Still Waters]

8. A possible strategy

I wonder if we could get through to them if a lot of us who donated to the 2008 campaign picked one day and did a massive unsubscribe to OFA.

[Laelth]

14. Welcome to DU.

We need every idea we can get because it's clear we're not getting through to the powers that be.

:dem:

-Laelth

[LooseWilly]

20. Does this mean I have to re-subscribe, and try to remove their emails from my spam filter?

I guess it's a worthy cause and all... so if need be I can endure the hassle.

[zipplewrath]

10. Cut off the cash

No money for the DNC. No money for Obama. Make all contributions directly to progressive house candidates. One could start with Sestak. Anyone wanna start a "redraft Dean for 2012" committee?

[roguevalley]

18. if this is the way it is, I will consider any serious candidate against

Obama in 2012. I have family and I want them to have even the smallest illusion that this is the America I can remember for themselves.

[AndrewP]

13. 100% correct

I was slow in understanding that, but this week let me know.

[regnaD kciN]

6. "...could even be..."

I think that falls under the category of "no sh*t, Sherlock."

[walldude]

7. "I don't understand"

And thats your fucking problem right there. You live in the beltway bubble and have no fucking idea what the real world is.

[Xithras]

9. "...White House Official Slams Liberals ..."

Never thought I'd see those five words together with a Democratic president.

A good friend of mine has recently started calling the president oBUSHa. I'm beginning to understand why...

[davidwparker]

11. "the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo" - It is not this

issue alone. It the list of failures for me. This is why I keep the SNL skit about Obama's lack of accomplishments thus far in my signature.

He is not prepared to be the head of the executive branch or head of the party. He needs to replace Gates, Geithner, and why did he nominate Bernanke?

From this "left of the left" voter, he continues to show poor judgement. This was characteristic of his first year in office; this will be characteristic of his only term.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Tee-hee. On the one hand were irrelevant, on the other dangerous.

They ignore, or vilify, the left at their peril. Ask LBJ and President Humphrey how that worked out.

[HipChick]

16. an anonymous source?

[Son Of Wendigo]

19. Obama is no progressive

Compared to the subhuman monstrosity who infested the White House before him, Obama seemed at first to be a breath of fresh air to those of us who so desperately wanted an honest America back. After a year, in issue after issue, Obama has revealed that he is no friend to us progressives and is not one himself. He talks a good game, but when it comes down to action, he has repeated betrayed us and sold us out. Nixon, Reagan, and Dubya were evil horrors, but everyone knew what they were getting when they each became president. Obama is sly. He is the stealth anti-progressive. I trusted him, no mean trick for any politician to achieve from me, but I never will again. I hope that the progressives run a real progressive against him in 2012. He is ruined as a president, and as far as I am concerned, as a human being.

[Mithreal]

21. "left of the left" = Democratic wing of the Democratic Party

Ok, bad form. Rahm is not concerned about health care. He is concerned about securing corporate donations.