Obama: Don't "jam through" health care without Brown

[jgraz]

This, apparently, is not an Onion article.

Obama concedes: Don’t ‘jam through’ healthcare reform

In a stunning interview given to ABC News to be broadcast Thursday night, President Barack Obama all but conceded his signature legislative issue.

"Here's one thing I know and I just want to make sure that this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated," Obama told the network, according to a partial transcript. "The people of Massachusetts spoke. He's got to be part of that process."

Waiting for Brown will all-but doom the Democrats' healthcare package. Brown would be the 41st Republican vote in the Senate, ensuring the opposition party has enough votes to mount a filibuster.


http://rawstory.com/2010/01/obama-concedes-jam-through-healthcare-reform


Is our Presidents learning? :banghead:

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. The Senate already passed healthcare reform.

They already spoke.

The House needs to pass that bill.

Besides, they can wait until Brown is seated before jamming a curling iron up his ass the healthcare bill through.

[CreekDog]

2. Above all we want to be fair

While Rome burns...

[niceypoo]

43. Cant have bipartisanship without all the republicans at the table

.especially 'Mr 41' as he calls himself.

[Orsino]

50. If Scott Brown really cared about health care reform...

...he could have run for Congress several years ago.

Latecomers may be seated during a suitable break in the performance.

[dave29]

3. I thought you wanted to kill the bill?

Come on now, it's working!

[ProSense]

6. The "I told you so" disappointment sets in. n/t

[Armstead]

4. Maybe he's playing a little chess there -- seriously

Thinking ahead -- The biggest fear that is being floated is that Congress and Obama are going to either fail to pass healthcare or pass something that is so bad that people will believe they should have done nothing.

Perhaps, by setting the bar too high to pass this terrible bill, Obama is perhaps finding an excuse to allow the GOP to kill it thus taking it take it off the table. Thus he could go back to the drawing board and come up with a more modest reform -- blame the failure on the GOP -- while looking like he is doing it for noble reasons.

Maybe....Or not.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. "a more modest reform" is not what needs to replace this.

REAL reform is what is needed.

If this reform got any more modest it would be wearing a fucking burka.

[jgraz]

11. If it got any more "modest" it wouldn't exist

I don't know what some people are thinking... :wtf:

[dave29]

17. it doesn't exist. Good work!

.

[jgraz]

20. Wow, I didn't realize I had so much power.

Haven't you been listening to Rahm? (and we know you have) Progressives don't count!

[Frustratedlady]

12. I agree. There is a lot more behind that statement than has been reported.

Obama can be crafty. I was trying to figure out what he could be doing and I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

[Warren Stupidity]

28. Yeah, the crafty is just rampant with our leaders. They are Uber Crafty

:sarcasm:

[dave29]

16. way to equivocate on a potential possibility

lol

[Warren Stupidity]

26. Only the other side is playing 'mixed martial arts cage fight'.

That fucking chessboard is not going to protect you much.

[uponit7771]

46. I pray this is what is happening but past statements point toward naivite not wit

[bvar22]

51. I agree. Obama got the message.

LESS than 35% of the American People support Individual Mandates without a Public Option.
"Ramming this bill through" would simply guarantee further blood baths.

The Democratic Party will fare much better simply writing a few Stand Alone Bills that average Americans can easily understand, and working to pass them. INSIST on Roll Call Votes.

*A clean stand alone bill on Pre-Existing Conditions

*A clean stand alone bill on removing the Anti-Trust Exemption.

*A clean stand alone bill expanding Medicare to 55 (call this one an emergency aid bill for the "at risk" unemployed age group).

Let the Republicans OPPOSE these POPULIST (and popular) issues.

[ProSense]

5. .

:rofl:

[jgraz]

7. .

:rofl:

[PVnRT]

13. No spin? No talking points? I'm disappointed

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. should have passed this bill last week with Kirk

[TheKentuckian]

10. The Great Compromiser has spoken

Let us have further vain efforts to get the RepubliKlan onboard.

[O is 44]

14. Here is my view on this...

Mr. Brown has stated "he is a different kind of republican" I bet Obama wants him to prove it. Let him vote against a healthcare bill which he voted for in MA. I hope he is made to vote on many progressive issues and then the Dems can use his record against the Republicans in Nov. in ads, it will bust the so called run as a moderate in blue state strategy I think the Repugs will be pulling.

[RoadRage]

15. So... lemme get this straight. George Bush slams shit through & we hate him for that

We elect a president who is actually listening to the people, slowing things down and trying to get this right - and we are pissed about it?

So, really what most people think are "It's OK for us to do it even if we hated it when Bush did it"... or "Well, since Bush did it - we should have our Dem President do it too".

I also find it ironic that so many of the people on this board who were totally against the healthcare bill 2 days ago are now pissed that Obamaa said this.. just.. well, because. I guess now that it's probably going to go away.. the half assed health care bill is better then nothing. Hind site is 20/20

[jgraz]

19. Pathetic excuse.

George Bush slammed through shit that nobody wanted. That's why we hated him.

Obama's refusing to fight for something that 80% of the country wants. He's warming up to use this loss as yet another excuse to make the bill more corporate-friendly.

Are you really incapable of seeing a distinction here?

[SaveOurDemocracy]

33. The Dems were afraid to go on hiatus, leave the...

hen house unguarded, because they knew Bush would pull a fast one. We can't even go about business as usual until the RePukes get 1 more poison dart.

Maybe we should have stalled all business until Al Frankin was seated.

[Warren Stupidity]

25. I hated the shit he was slamming.

Oh I hated him too. But it was what they were pushing through the legislature that was the problem. LBJ rammed the civil rights act and the voting rights act through congress. I guess in your insane world view, that would be a bad thing.

[CTLawGuy]

30. +1

NT

[ibegurpard]

31. I'm THRILLED they're finally listening and having second thoughts.

I wish it hadn't taken the loss of this particular senate seat to jar them out of their complacency.
The senate bill was NOT better than the status quo...it WAS the status quo...on steroids.

[jgraz]

37. The question is: who are they listening to?

Are they listening to the disillusioned progressives who sat out this race? No. Obama's first statement is to say we have to work with the new Republican minority in the Senate. :banghead:

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

39. To say Obama is 'actually listening to the people' is disingenuous

When more than 70% of us want some form of public option and he denies he ever supported it, that's not listening to the people.

When he promises to close the shame that is GITMO and it remains open, that's not listening to the people.

When he increases the number of troops in Afghanistan, that's not listening to the people.

When he lets Wall Street keep screwing Main Street, that's not listening to the people.

I don't know which people he's listening to, but they sure aren't the ones who voted for him and the "change" he promised.

[harun]

18. You think the RW would do that for you?

[Thrill]

21. Democrats are a bunch of wimps. They just continue to prove it

.

[bvar22]

52. The Democrats are not wimps.

They ARE co-conspirators.

Remember how fast and decisive they were when bailing out Wall Street?
Took them LESS than a week.

Increase Military Spending?
Rammed it right through.
(Put the Winged Monkeys on the Progressive Caucus who balked at this one).

"Seeking Bi-Partisan Consensus" is just the cover story.

[Blasphemer]

22. Sigh... nt

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. The new democratic party symbol should be a wooden paddle with the inscription:

"Thank you sir. May have another!"

[uponit7771]

45. +1

[Warren Stupidity]

24. Obama: bringing a spork to a gun fight. nt.

[asdjrocky]

27. Total wimp.

If he's not a wimp, then he's just fucking the people on purpose.

[ibegurpard]

29. No, jam it through

but, of course, I mean REAL healthcare reform...not the senate Health Insurance Codification Act.

[scheming daemons]

32. Make up your mind... you've been all Mr. "kill the bill" for months....

...now you want it to pass?

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

34. Yeah, so he/she/it can bitch about how bad it is.

[jgraz]

36. I know nuance is hard for you, but try to follow along for just a bit.

This is the narrative that many Dems have been pushing: that we need to wait for Brown to be seated and then we can't pass anything without Repuke approval.

Obama isn't going to pass this healthcare bill. He's setting the stage to pass an even more corporate-friendly bill.

[Spazito]

35. Wow, total hypocrisy in full view!

I am only surprised you messed up bad enough to actually show it so blatantly.

[jgraz]

38. In that short post, you've demonstrated just about every possible way to Not Get It.

THE lesson from this election is that Obama needs to step up and lead, not wait for another Repuke to give him his blessing.

There are many ways Obama could have responded to last night's defeat. He could have said that he gets the message and he will work harder for the people who elected him. He could have said he understands the current HCR bill is unpopular and he will try to fix it. Hell, he could have just said the election means nothing, full speed ahead.

But instead, he chose -- once again -- to kowtow to the right. How many times is he going to fail at this before he catches on?

[Spazito]

42. There is no hypocrisy in this post, it is unfortunate that it, instead of the....

one in your OP, wasn't the OP. As it is, your OP shows gross hypocrisy, imo.

[jgraz]

54. Your lack of reading comprehension is not my problem, amigo.

Other posters on this thread were able to connect the dots. Why is it so difficult for you? Should I use smaller words next time?

[cali]

40. I don't have much in, er, common with the op but I don't see this as hypocrisy

he's pointing out that it appears that Obama is moving more toward his failed policy of reaching out to the pukes. It hasn't worked and it sure the fuck won't work now. His statement looks far more weak than gracious.

[Spazito]

41. The hypocrisy is that this poster has been one of the biggest ...

"kill the bill" advocates who's OP, in essence is whining the bill will be killed because Obama has stated it will not be pushed through until Brown is seated. Now, had the poster's real cause been the "killing of the bill" the OP should have been more on a 'good, the longer this goes on, the better the chance of killing the bill' as opposed to just another in a long series of slams of Obama.

"Waiting for Brown will all-but doom the Democrats' healthcare package."

The statement above shows the gross hypocrisy, imo. If the poster wanted to point out what you have stated he wanted, he would have stated exactly without the need to throw in 'dooming' of the very healthcare bill he wants to be "doomed".

[jgraz]

53. It's so much easier to win an argument when you make up both sides.

Isn't it?

If you have links showing I've "been one of the biggest kill-the-bill advocates", then post them. Otherwise, here's a big cup of STFU. :beer:

[uponit7771]

44. THIS IS VERY DISAPPOINTING

[jgraz]

55. But not at all surprising.

Just another piece of the picture. Obama has been kowtowing to Republicans and ConservaDems this entire year.

[LatteLibertine]

47. Dealing

with folks in the health care industry without insurance is loads of fun. They turn me away for not having insurance and act like they're bouncers denying me access to a club I'm not cool enough to enter, rather than what they are actually doing; keeping me from potentially life saving medication. I should stress I have the ability to pay, I am simply not currently jacked into the insurance cartel.

[Crunchy Frog]

48. No, no, of course not.

You know the Republicans would never "jam something through" just because they could.

[Vinca]

49. Oh, great. Waiting for Scotty to join the kumbayah-singing circle.

Imagine roles were reversed and Republicans wanted a piece of legislation to get through before a Democrat was sworn in. That sucker would already be on the desk in the Oval Office and the ink would be dry.