Obama campaigned against mandates in 08. Remember that?

[Armstead]

Just a reminder.

He not only jettisoned his former "committment" to a public option, he broke an important campaign position.

[katandmoon]

1. But- but- but- but- he kept his promise on Afghanistan!

[d_b]

10. hahahahaha

[David Zephyr]

12. LOL.

And let's not forget that promise kept.

[leftstreet]

14. ROFL

[LittleBlue]

36. AHAHAHAHAHA!

[Nite Owl]

2. I remember that debate

I liked his stance too. He seemed to trust us.

Now he has lost our trust.

[Armstead]

4. It was his consistent position -- and he used it to position himself against Hillary

[PM Martin]

7. So Obama is a mere politician then.

[slipslidingaway]

3. He also campaigned on Medicare negotiating drug prices. n/t

[ej510]

5. Then he sold out to the corporations.

[Armstead]

6. Or he sold out before that but didn't tell us

[slipslidingaway]

18. And handing over all the boomers who will soon be enrolling in Medicare...

what a deal for the drug companies.

:(

[rug]

8. I was listening.

[bluestateguy]

9. If only the damn senators were bound by his campaign promises

If this were a dictatorship it'd be a heck of a lot easier. As long as Obama was the dictator.

[Armstead]

11. Obama is pushing for mandates now

He changed his position -- and an important position it WAS

[TheWraith]

21. Obama is pushing for the bill. He didn't get to write it singlehandedly. nt

[Donnachaidh]

13. he himself said he was working behind the scenes on this bill

He's JUST as much at fault in producing this POS extortion bill.

[rockymountaindem]

28. He still is, theoretically, head of our party

He has the ability to threaten other politicians' ability to raise funds, if nothing else. I mean, isn't that the threat he made to House Dems contemplating voting against funding the war? "Vote for war funding or I'll intervene against you in primaries and not raise a single dime on your behalf." I seem to recall that's what it was. He also didn't seem to have any trouble getting a lot of Democrats to vote against drug reimportation yesterday in order to save his compromise with PhARMA. No trouble there. So why is he suddenly unable to affect any change when it comes to, oh, the public option, Medicare negotiating power etc.?

[liberalmuse]

15. I found this on Dkos...

It pretty much says it for me. I was lambasting the 'haters' as early as a few days ago. Now I understand why people are upset. I don't hate Obama, I just feel he is not the person I thought he was.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/16/815139/-A-former-Obamabots-letter-to-the-President

[flyarm]

16. Those "haters" as you call them, have been telling the damn truth and getting their teeth knocked

down their throats..by people who called them "haters" ,the very people, even now too damn ignorant to apologize for their utter ignorance!

[DURHAM D]

23. +1

[liberalmuse]

25. I'm sorry.

Sadly, I was wrong.

[flyarm]

50. Thank you. Happy Holidays! eom

[liberal N proud]

17. Do you have a link to the text of any speech?

Maybe he did, but you need to back your statement up with some facts.

[eleny]

24. You mean that you don't remember his debating Hillary Clinton over this issue

:rofl:

Get real.

Okay - here's a list of sound bites from Obama where he makes the case against mandates during the campaign.
http://www.prx.org/pieces/23963-obama-advocates-against-clinton-s-mandated-health

Obama soundbite suggesting mandated coverage will be too expensive (Interview by the Keene Sentinel 11/25/07)
Obama and Clinton back and forth over mandated coverage at CNN Austin debate
Soundbite of Obama and Clinton back and forth over mandated coverage at CNN Austin debate
Soundbite of how mandated coverage will make outlaws out of those without insurance (from NHPR's The Exchange, 11/27/07)
Lengthy attack against mandated coverage from CNN Austin debate
Obama distinguishing Clinton-Obama differences on issue of mandate (on NHPR's The Exchange 11/27/07)
Obama describing why mandates don't work (Interview by the Keene Sentinel 11/25/07)
Obama soundbite against Clinton's mandated health plan from CNN Austin debate
And another Obama soundbite against Clinton's mandated health plan (on NHPR's The Exchange, 11/27/07)
Another Obama soundbite against Clinton's mandated health plan from CNN Austin deb

[liberal N proud]

42. You think it's funny, but at one time you dare not post anything w/o a link

And now you all get indignant about it when we ask.

[eleny]

49. You got your links and your still complaining?

And yes, it was humorous that you said "Maybe". The mandates issue was one of the hottest issues during the campaign. Links have never been an absolute must when the issue was widely accepted fact at DU.

Go peddle your bs to a newbie.

[eleny]

19. And drug importation

Tonight, Anderson Cooper of CNN is playing the video of Obama's campaign speech about that position.

[TheWraith]

20. And if he had written the bill, you'd have something to gripe about.

Not that that's stopping you.

[WeDidIt]

22. Yup, I remember

I made the wrong choice in '08.

[IsItJustMe]

26. Hey, but he sure looked good and sounded good when he was saying all of that, wasn't he?

[quakerboy]

27. Yup.

So, if they pass a bad bill, and Obama is the one to veto it, would it then be a loss for Obama?

I mean, if the senate republicans kill it, even if it sucks and deserves to die, its a democratic loss. But if the democrats were to kill it, if the democratic president named Obama kills it, is it still a democratic loss?

[jesus_of_suburbia]

29. good point! maybe he will veto it (so it's HIS decision, and less of a 'loss')

[quakerboy]

31. Will Obama do what he said he would?

12 months ago, I thought he would temper his promises with what the people demanded and good information on current conditions. 8 months ago, I thought he would temper his promises with what the people demanded. 1 month ago, I thought he would keep his promises. Now I don't know that I believe he will. This really sucks.

[jeanpalmer]

30. What would cause someone to reverse course like that?

He certainly understands that these promises were important to many people. How about an explanation, if there is a legitimate reason. Or he could just say that he never meant it, it was just politics. To do a 180 on all those promises and go on as if he had never made them is unacceptable. He owes an explanation.

[ProSense]

32. Here is exactly what he said

A refresher

[Armstead]

39. You forgot something

From your own post link:

Obama would consider an individual mandate for adults "once affordable health insurance is available to everyone."

That last phrase is kinda important. "Once affordsable health insurance is available to everyone."

Where the hell in this bill is anything that makes affordsable health insurance available to everyone?

Anything that even remotely moving in that direction has been taken out.

I wouldn't object to mandates if truly affordable health insurance was truly available to everyone either. But we are nowhere near that -- and this bill does nothing to promote that.

[karynnj]

33. Most here actually supported Edwards and Hillary who said they were necessary

So, many of those most against them now were the most for them in 2007 and 2008. The Edwards supporters particularly claimed that without them, his plan was not universal.

[Armstead]

35. I supported Edwards although I did not agree with him on mandates

It's difficult now to really stick up for Edwards for otehr reasons, but I do believe he would have had a plan that balanced mandates with some form of public program that would have been much better than this "you have to buy expensive private insurance with no cost controls" crap.

I then suppoerted Obama over Hillary, partially because of the mandates issue.

To be honest, I think Hillary would have pushed a mire progressive plan better for real people than Obama and the Congress has done.

[ProSense]

38. "I think Hillary would have pushed a mire progressive plan better for real people than Obama " Ah,

disowning Edwards and now pushing Hillary.

Here's a clue: both there mandated plans sucked royally. They both were advocating garnishing wages.

[Armstead]

40. All their plans pretty much sucked

To be perfectly honest, the plan that made then most sense was that of Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders. Basically expand medicare for everyone.

Short of that we should at least strictly regulate health insurance and treat them like public utilities.

I know your gut response is probably thatv this is "too leftist" but all these attempts to placate insurance companies are doomed to fail because structurally it is contrary to the goal of make healthcare affordable and available to everyone.

It is a rotten way to do it.

[juno jones]

41. And that little thing Hillary slipped out with

about needing proof of insurance just to get a job.

That and the garnishment issues really soured me them and their mandates.

[O is 44]

34. It is called compromise ...

not to say I like it, but he always said "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good"
By the way he did not write the bill

[Armstead]

37. But we should let the halfway-decent be the enemy of the rotten

I could accept halfway decent. But this is rotten.

And, by the way, once in office he did come out for mandates.

[Raine]

43. I do, it was one reason I favored him over Hillary...

I was scammed. :argh:

[Vidar]

44. It's become increasingly obvious that there is a vast gulf between what

Obama says & what he does.

[VMI Dem]

45. Except when it comes to war escalation.

[Vidar]

47. I will grant him consistency on his blood lust

[uponit7771]

46. Could you post Obama's comments on mandates? Thx in advance

[ima_sinnic]

48. Here's an ad he ran against Hillary knocking that very thing:

This would seem to imply that he would NEVER allow mandates to go through, but maybe he decided that, yes, that is the best we can do. :eyes:

I don't know the original source of this; I picked it up from a DU thread yesterday; there was no source mentioned or anything.