The amazing aspect of Obama's RomneyCare admission

[MannyGoldstein]

That Obama admitted he simply aimed to reproduce RomneyCare is not a surprising admission - after all, two plans being so similar could not be coincidence.

The amazing thing is that Obama claims he adopted RomneyCare to get Republican buy-in. Even years before nationwide RomneyCare was proposed by Obama, even Romney was backpeddling with great vigor from his legislation. Republicans wanted no part of the thing. Could Obama have really been unaware of this?

Is Obama naive in extremis? Is RomneyCare what Obama wanted all along, and we're being played as chumps? Or am I missing something here?

[DJ13]

1. I remember how Obama derided Romneycare in the election

So he's just another politician after all....

[ProSense]

2. "am I missing something here?"

Yes

[jaxx]

6. The immediate outcry from some Democrats is: Told you it was a Republican bill.

From your link. Not much changes, does it. The I 'told you so's' chime right in. ;-)

[TheWraith]

3. You're missing a lot.

For starters, an understanding of why a president would exaggerate the HCR bill's relation to Republican ideas when appearing in front of an audience that includes millions of moderate Republicans and independents who like that sort of thing.

[emulatorloo]

20. If I could recommend your post, I would. n/t

[JoePhilly]

4. More of this silliness ....

Obama, true to his stated objective as a candidate, attempted to include GOP ideas in the HCR legislation.

The fact that you are surprised that he actual tried to do so after being elected, says more about you, then it does about him.

The GOP's change of position also says more about them then it does about him.

For many on the right, they pretend to hate the ideas they proposed, just to hurt Obama ... and sadly, for some on the left, they pretend to not know or remember Obama's desire to advance a more bipartisan political environment as a candidate.

[avaistheone1]

5. Interesting

More bipartisan? Obama said he would bring all stakeholders to the table. Yet he deliberately excluded single-payer advocates from the policy making process and the discussion including his own White House summit on health care.

Anyone remember this guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE

[jaxx]

7. I always wonder, as the health care barely passed,

just how people think there would have been votes for single payer. What did they know that he didn't? And why didn't the legislators just go for it since it would have passed so easily?

[avaistheone1]

9. Well there was

no coalition building, no use of the bully pulpit, no use OA organization regarding even inclusion of single-payer in the discussion. There never was a strategy, an interest, or an effort on the part of the Obama admin.

Pretty simple.

[jaxx]

10. There has to be enough votes to pass.

[countrydad58]

13. So instead of putting pressure

on his own caucus members, He went out & campaigned for the fucks like Blanche Lincoln who fought the public option!

[ProSense]

16. Being pissed is not governing.

"He went out & campaigned for the fucks like Blanche Lincoln who fought the public option!"

Look how many people are lamenting the loss of a bunch of blue dogs who opposed the entire health care plan.

People want it both ways when complaining: They want to kick the blue dogs out, but when they are voted out, blame Democrats for the losses.

[GOTV]

23. They wanted them replaced with better Democrats. It's not complicated or confusing.

If Obama didn't spend 2 years acting like everything is going great with the Republicans people might have voted conservatives out in primaries and the general instead of the Dems who got 90% of what they wanted and still left people suffering.

[countrydad58]

30. who came first chicken or the egg.

I am not lamenting one bit losing ms walmart puke lincoln,or any of her blue scums!

[JoePhilly]

12. Baloney.

"no coalition building, no use of the bully pulpit, no use OA organization regarding even inclusion of single-payer in the discussion"

If you want to make your point, simply describe which of these tactics would have flipped the blue dogs. Should be easy for you.

The fact is, you can't.

These same blue dogs voted with the GOP to support financial deregulation when the GOP had the majority under Clinton. They voted for the Bush tax cuts. Voted for the Medicare part D give-a-way, and any other significant financial regulation.

The blue dogs were NEVER, NEVER, NEVER ... going to support single payer, or a public option ... PERIOD.

There was no arm twisting that could change that.

The discussion you call for did take place. And behind closed doors, the blue dogs decided that no, they would NEVER support such things. Don't you recall the "DEAL" the administration made witj Nelson, just to get him to go along ... and then, when that deal surfaced, they had to drop it?????

Hate to break the news, but Obama is not GOD ... he can not make the blue dogs vote the way he wants, and no amount of
"bully pulpit" or arm twisting will change that.

As you say ... Pretty simple.

[countrydad58]

31. So you give your full support

to them,who fight you? Real Dumb for someone so intelligent.

[Fruittree]

22. Some people on this site seem to use the term "bully pulpit"

in much the same way tea partiers use "the constitution". These are the simple answers to everything...All he had to do was climb up there, tell the truth, explain reality in facts and the country and the vast majority of Republicans would magically come around to his point of view. Do you really believe this? Do you not see what's happening in the country at all?

[pampango]

17. Progressives wanted single payer (some, like me, even a national health service). That said,

with repubs unanimously opposing any kind of HCR and Blue Dogs wanting only modest changes at best, single payer (or a national health service) were doomed. Many still wish that Obama had "shot for the moon" and started with single payer (or NHS) and negotiated down, if indeed he had to, to get enough Blue Dogs and other moderate Democrats to pass something.

It is hard to know what went on in his head: did he think that starting with a "moon shot" would hurt his credibility and the chances of getting something moderate which he thought was likely the best he could do or did he really only want moderate change to begin with. I'm sure all of us on the outside "know" which it was, but only a few really "know" whether Obama would have gone for single payer (or NHS) if he thought he had any where near the votes for it.

It does seem apparent that he definitely did not want to fail to pass any HCR by insisting on his personal vision of an ideal version of it, which is what happened to so many before him.

[Hydra]

21. Very simple

He himself says he tried to pass a Republican bill with Democratic votes.

There shouldn't have been ANY votes from our side. The fact that he managed to pass it with 0 Republican support IS quite the accomplishment, but not the one I was looking for.

[GOTV]

24. Missed the point. You don't start with single payer in order to get single payer ...

... just like you don't list your house at 200K in order to get 200K. You list at 200K so you can compromise on 180K which is the price you want.

You start with single payer so that public option can be the compromise.

[Lord Magus]

32. Bingo. That was the major strategic error in healthcare reform.

You never offer a compromise position at the start of negotiations. If you compromise before negotiations even start, the other side has no reason to offer any concessions in return.

[GOTV]

33. It's so obvious that I have to assume a smart guy like Obama didn't do this accidentally ...

... he did it so the public option would be killed and he wouldn't appear to be blamed.

[woo me with science]

35. The public option was enormously popular. nt

[Gravel Democrat]

11. they were not excluded

they were fucking arrested

over and over the damn absolute denial and refusal to either remember or tell it like it was.

and if Republicans did that people here would still be calling for marches and civil disobedience but since it's their team...

**************************
"...Protester Adam Schneider yelled: “We need to have single-payer at the table. I have friends who have died, who don’t have health care, whose health care did not withstand their personal health emergencies. ... Single-payer now!”


Baucus gaveled for order, guffawing, “We need more police.” The single-payer movement has taken his words as a rallying cry. At a hearing Tuesday, five more were arrested. They call themselves the “Baucus 13.”

One of the Baucus 13, Kevin Zeese, recently summarized Baucus’ career campaign contributions:

“From the insurance industry: $1,170,313;
health professionals: $1,016,276;
pharmaceuticals/health-products industry: $734,605;
hospitals/nursing homes: $541,891;
health services/HMOs: $439,700.”

That’s almost $4 million from the very industries that have the most to gain or lose from health-care reform.

Another of the Baucus 13, Russell Mokhiber, co-founder of SinglePayerAction.org, has been charged with “disruption of Congress.”

He was quick to respond: “I charge Baucus with disrupting Congress. It once was a democratic institution; now it’s corrupt, because of people like him. He takes money from the industry and does their bidding. He won’t even diffuse the situation by seating a single-payer advocate at the table.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090513_baucus_raucous_caucus/

this constant denial is causing me internal problems.

[countrydad58]

14. Exactly!

[ProSense]

15. They who?

People protest a lot of things. That doesn't mean squat.

Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich could not muster enough votes for their bills. That is reality.

[jefferson_dem]

18. Sure. That's the guy you railed against during the Democratic primaries...

Plus ça change.

[WI_DEM]

8. Ted Kennedy supported "Romney Care"

[jefferson_dem]

19. Et tu Kooch?!

Baahhhhhhhhhh.

[Greyhound]

25. K&R for another "nobody could've predicted" excuse.

Wait, I know! I'll post a link to another thread that was debunked and roundly criticized as content-free, knowing you won't click on it, giving the appearance of an argument.
:rofl:

These guys got nothing and their continued contortions are becoming a parody of themselves.

[Occam Bandage]

26. Presidents do not "admit" while in office. They spin.

The popular perception of Health Care Reform is that it's a liberal monstrosity that Obama and Pelosi rammed through Congress. Obama is attempting to counter that by:

1. Claiming there is broad ideological support for the contents of the bill (if not the bill itself) by invoking Romney,
and
2. Claiming the Republican opposition to the bill was in bad faith by portraying the bill as a genuine attempt at compromise.

[HughMoran]

27. Keep on pouring salt on the wound

At some point we all get numb.

[Greyhound]

28. And once you're numb(er), will you go back and fix your own Party?

Or is this mission to completely destroy the very concept of America ongoing until completed?

[HughMoran]

29. Screaming in the face of those who support your message just turns them off

I pay little attention any more.

[Bluebear]

34. Bye now!

[ibegurpard]

38. +1000

[Skittles]

36. mmmmm.....sucking up to repukes

great strategy :thumbsdown:

[ProSense]

37. "great strategy" Actually

It is

Tea Party Express Chairwoman: RomneyCare will sink Romney in GOP presidential primary