PROOF Obama Did Not Campaign on Public Option (Videos)

[Droogie666]

Progressives keep saying that Barack Obama campaigned on the public option, because it was on his campaign website. I personally never heard him mention a public option during campaign rallies. All I ever remember him talking about was setting up an insurance exchange, and letting people have the same kind of thing that members of congress get. I'm not even sure Barack Obama ever even mentioned the public option during debates. Barack Obama outlined his healthcare plan in both the second and third Presidential debates, and both times, he said not one word about a public option. I'm not trying to make excuses for the lack of public option in the bill, but it is crap for some people with an agenda, (including the media) to try to paint him as a bald-faced liar! And all of the whining about the loss of the public option by democrats in congress, is really about the democrats throwing Barack Obama under the bus, before they vote for a healthcare bill WITHOUT a public option, in order to try to save their own asses from the wrath of progressive activists, after months of saying that they would NOT vote for a healthcare bill without a public option.

Second Presidential Debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erspfMkqLN4&feature=fvw

Third Presidential Debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J_igVFvmhw

[DrToast]

1. Did you really type that?

Progressives keep saying that Barack Obama campaigned on the public option, because it was on his campaign website.

Imagine that!

[Skittles]

3. LOL......STOP IT DrTOAST

YOU'RE KILLING ME :rofl:

[griffi94]

6. now that's funny

[jonnyblitz]

8. HA!

:wow: :rofl:

[Oregone]

10. Only the "netroots" read campaign websites

And if they came to the conclusion was for it, they didn't decode the nuance enough. Clearly, its their fault they feel lied to.


Don't leave home without your decoder ring next time

[Mark Twain Girl]

11. Hard to laugh about this subject, but I think you just made me do it! nt

[jgraz]

19. Well, to be fair, you can't really hold the OP to that.

It is on a website, after all. :rofl:

[Pisces]

2. Don't bring up facts around here. People heard what they wanted. We have the

best President and all people are interested in is tearing him apart. We are not dems unless we are imploding our own, the second we don't get everything we want.

[jonnyblitz]

15. facts? like the first sentence in the OP??!!

:rofl: :crazy:

[fadedrose]

4. I watched almost all of President Obama's speeches..

that he made at the town meetings, and it's true, he did not promise a public option.

But what he did do was criticize insurance companies very severly, in every speech, in every town, and accused them of causing the health care crisis, foreclosures, and all kinds of evils and misfortunres because of their unfair practices. So, while he did not promise a public option, he gave no indication that he was going to allow those same insurance companies to be put in charge of the health care reform bill...was a suprise to me...

[hughee99]

5. Didn't Obama say he wouldn't sign a bill without a public option?

I went to the video here, and he seems to consider a "public option" part of his plan here. I think the video is from a joint session of congress (after the election). I guess if he didn't outline it in a debate when he had a limited time to speak, it must not have been part of his plan, even though when given unlimited time to speak he ABSOLUTELY mentioned it.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

[bajamary]

Obama did say: "a robust public option would be the best way to go"

In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that "any American will have the opportunity to enroll in new public plan."

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges "needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market."

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that "any plan" he signs "must include...a public option."

– During a conference call with progressive bloggers, the President said he continues "to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go."

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option "should be a part of this ," while rebuking claims that the plan was "dead."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818090/-Presid... .-

[NYCGirl]

12. And all of that was during the campaign? NT

[bajamary]

7. Obama did say: "a robust public option would be the best way to go"

In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that "any American will have the opportunity to enroll in new public plan."

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges "needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market."

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that "any plan" he signs "must include...a public option."

– During a conference call with progressive bloggers, the President said he continues "to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go."

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option "should be a part of this ," while rebuking claims that the plan was "dead."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818090/-Presid... .-

[Bluenorthwest]

9. That is sooooo funny. People thought that because it was on

his campaign website, it was a position he was campaigning on, and this you see as proof he did not campaign on it? He mentioned it all the time, and has said any bill he would sign would have to include one. But then again he said he was fully opposed to mandates, and equated mandated purchase to trying to solve homelessness by making a law that people have to buy houses. He mocked mandates. Now he supports them, and can not remember that he ever said otherwise. We were always at war with Oceania.

[jonnyblitz]

16. NOOO, not Oceania, YEMEN.!

:o

[ipaint]

13. From the campaign.

Covering All Americans and Providing Real Choices of Affordable Health Insurance Options.

Families and individuals should have the option of keeping the coverage they have or choosing from a wide array of health insurance plans, including many private health insurance options and a public plan. Coverage should be made affordable for all Americans with subsidies provided through tax credits and other means.

http://www.democrats.org/a/party/platform.html


In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that “any American will have the opportunity to enroll in new public plan.”

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf


Every American has the right to affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage. My plan will ensure that all Americans have health care coverage through their employers, private health plans, the federal government, or the states. My plan builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and creates a new public health plan for those currently without coverage. Under my plan, Americans will be able to choose to maintain their current coverage if they choose to. For those without health insurance I will establish a new public insurance program, and provide subsides to afford care for those who need them. My plan includes a mandate that all children have health care coverage and I will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs to help ensure we cover all kids. My plan requires all employers to contribute towards health coverage for their employees or towards the cost of the public plan. Under my plan a typical family will save $2,500 each year. We will realize tremendous savings within the health care system from improving efficiency and quality and reducing wasted expenditures system-wide. Specifically, these savings will result from investments in health information technology, improvements in prevention and management of chronic conditions, increased insurance industry competition and reduced industry overhead, the provision of federal reinsurance for catastrophic coverage, and reduced spending on uncompensated care.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/barack-obama/

NPR interview 2007-

Obama: Senator Clinton’s plan for healthcare, my plan, John Edward’s plan are all similar in the sense that we set up a government plan alongside the private plans that people have. And people can buy in. And we all subsidize participation in that plan.

Laura Knoy: So it’s not universal, single payer healthcare such as Dennis Kucinich<'s plan>?

Obama: Exactly. It’s not single payer, it’s a transitional system building on the existing systems that we have.

cont.-

Require all children to have health insurance, and employers to offer employee health benefits or contribute to the cost of the new public program. Expand Medicaid and SCHIP and create the National Health Insurance Exchange through which small businesses and individuals without access to other public programs or employer-based coverage could enroll in a new public plan, like Medicare, or in a range of approved private plans.

http://www.verumserum.com/?p=8554


Many more from the campaign here-

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818090/-President-Obama:-I-Didnt-Campaign-on-the-Public-Option

[dkf]

14. Can you imagine him bringIng up the public option in a debate?

People would be thinking "huh"? Even if that is the foundation of the plan I'm sure the advice would be to avoid using congressspeak.

[dorkulon]

17. This is just sad.

Hair-splitting apologists, what motivates you? He's not your boyfriend.

[GrantDem]

18. Sooooo...

He didn't campaign on something that was on his campaign website???

:wtf:

[neverforget]

20. Apparently to some those are just words with no meaning