| President Obama and David Axelrod conducted a blogger conference call early this evening about health care reform. I had some connection difficulties and joined the call a few minutes late but the President was on the call and definitively described his version of a "robust public option." It sounded unrealistic for a policy initiative which isn't single payer because all of his objectives can only be accomplished via single payer. The fact single payer is off the table leaves a diluted public option as the best scenario.
The President is aware of the partisan delaying tactics being devised to stall the policy making and kill health care reform as part of an overall Republican strategy to weaken his Administration. It is the Rush Limbaugh tactic of doing everything possible to make Obama fail so the GOP can rise again. Screw the country, screw the uninsured, screw the underinsured, their only objective is themselves.
The President and his team discussed the process where both the House and Senate will be passing bills which then will be hashed out in conference. This is where the real work will be accomplished... or not. A question was raised about Kent Conrad's proposal to include health care coops and the President said he is looking into them but has serious reservations about their viability and efficacy. I asked whether the White House will support our efforts to pass single payer on the state level since it is off the table nationally. Axelrod said the White House certainly does support our efforts and that doing this on the state level is an important step. They also mentioned meeting with Gov. Rendell last week about health care reform. Maybe during their next discussion with him they can get Ed to stop blocking our bills.
Overall my question didn't get a direct answer. The White House is willing to support us but they failed to mention any concrete, specific ways of doing so.
It was great to have the opportunity to listen to the President and have this sort of access to the very top levels of government. They listened carefully to each question and interacted strongly with us and mentioned how important the blogosphere is for getting information to the public and providing forums for discussion. |
