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TechnoratiObama, They Want You to Fail
After last year's elections, a Democratic operative told me that if the Democrats got to 59 seats in the Senate, it would be easy to peel off one or two Republicans to pass key legislation like serious health care reform. I was left wondering what political planet he'd been living on for the past three decades.
For almost as long as I've been in Washington (I arrived for the Associated Press in 1977) it has worked the other way. Even when the Republicans appear to be on the defensive and outnumbered, they band together and vote as a bloc, while Democrats bend over backwards to be "bipartisan."
This dynamic has continued into Barack Obama's presidency as he and the Democrats have watered down their proposals with the hope of winning over a few Republican votes so they can claim they achieved some bipartisanship, even if it means passing bills that are half-hearted half-measures.
That process dominated the debate over the $787 billion stimulus bill that the Democrats diluted with Republican tax cuts and shrank in size despite warnings from top economists that the package would fall far short of the needed boost in jobs, a bleak prediction that now appears to be coming true as unemployment climbs toward 10 percent.
In exchange for the weaker stimulus bill, the Democrats got three Republican votes in the Senate and none in the House. (The Republicans then drove one of those GOP senators, Arlen Specter, out of the party, though Specter still won't count himself as a reliable Democratic vote.)
The pattern of belligerent Republicans and timid Democrats is now repeating itself on health-care reform. Democrats first excluded from the debate the one measure that probably could save significant money - a single-payer system - and they now appear poised to trade away Obama's proposal for a "public option" to possibly garner a couple of Republican votes.
Though enacting a public option is favored by nearly three-quarters of the American people - and has the potential of at least saving some money by pressuring private insurers to rein in costs - Democrats are so entranced by the siren song of bipartisanship that they appear on the verge of scuttling it.
In doing so, the Democrats could well recreate the worst mistake of Hillary Clinton's failed health insurance plan of 1994. The fundamental flaw in her complex scheme was that it tried so hard not to harm the insurance industry that it wasn't clear how it would make matters any better - and the industry still torpedoed it with a misleading public relations campaign.
Today, the Obama administration and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus have been so proud of getting all the players to sit down at the table (with the exception of single-payer advocates who were excluded) that they have lost track of the hard reality that if the nation is really going to address its health care crisis, there will have to be some financial losers.
Right now, the losers are the tens of millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans, the doctors and nurses who are appalled at the cruelty of the U.S. medical system, and the U.S. businesses that pay for their employees' health insurance and thus are put at an economic disadvantage to their foreign competitors operating in countries that have single-payer systems.
Helping the Industry
For the status quo to change significantly, the private health insurance companies and other parts of the medical industrial complex must be compelled to extract savings from their bureaucratic waste and excess profits. To do that would require, at minimum, a robust "public option" that forces a revamping of the private health insurance business model.
Not surprisingly, the health insurance industry doesn't want to undergo such a transformation, so its lobbyists have leaned on the Republicans and a handful of "centrist" Democrats to either kill the "public option" or in Baucus's phrase "sculpt" it into something that doesn't threaten the industry.
That's where Sen. Kent Conrad's scheme of setting up "cooperatives" comes in. The North Dakota Democrat has proposed building from scratch a network of non-profit "cooperatives" that would lack both the size for administrative savings and the bargaining power to negotiate lower prices.
While a public option could piggyback on the Medicare bureaucracy to maximize savings and have the advantage of simplicity, the emerging Baucus-Conrad scheme would add an array of cooperatives to the already confusing mix of insurance plans. For many Americans, these new entities won't present an appealing alternative to private insurance.
If such a "compromise" emerges, a few Republicans might vote yes; the industry would be happy; and the Obama administration could have a "bipartisan" signing ceremony.
But the American people might find themselves left out of the celebration. The federal government might even compel the uninsured - under penalty of fines - to sign up with an existing insurance company whether they feel they can afford it or not. Mandated coverage could mean a big windfall for the insurance industry, pushing nearly 50 million new customers into its arms.
Eventually, however, the reality would sink in that very little had improved. Millions of Americans would understand that Washington protected the interests of a cold-hearted industry rather than fashion a health-insurance plan that would do the people much good. With that realization, many Americans would blame Obama and the Democrats.
On the other hand, if Obama demanded a public option and insisted on the support of his party, the dynamic might go very differently. If the Democrats assembled 59 votes for a strong plan - even if Republicans continue their obstruction of Al Franken's Senate election in Minnesota - that could turn the tables on "centrist" Republicans who would have to decide which side to take.
To get the Democrats to behave in such a disciplined and serious fashion, however, might require a backbone or brain transplant for many of them. But it's way past time for the Democrats to recognize that their obsession with bipartisanship is unrequited.
The Republicans have a very different agenda. Indeed, with the continuing pratfalls of their supposedly top-tier candidates - like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine holiday with his mistress - they have only one genuine hope for the future of their party: President Obama must fail and the Democrats must take the blame.
25 Comments so far
Show AllUntil Americans learn to shut out any politician associated with "mainstream" Republicans or Democrats, we can't expect real change to come about. At the very least, all of us should let our elected representatives know that if they don't back single-payer 100% both publicly and privately, they will never get any of our votes again. Let's be single minded here and concentrate on the one major issue where the vast majority of Americans can agree on. At least if corporate America is still successful in denying the general public the changes we yearn for like universal health care, then citizenry may just open it's eyes and realize that Wall Street's interests and our own are very, very different.
Fail at what?
I'd like to see him fail to keep the 50k+ troops in Iraq.
I'd like to see him fail to keep the troops in Afghanistan.
I'd like to see him fail to keep drones over Pakistan
I'd like to see him fail to keep capturing fresh people to torture
There are a lot of things.
I'd like to see him put something besides Hope in a beggar's cup.
Everybody's comments are great, and show a real sophistication about power in Washington. But when I read someone saying "X should be voted out..." it's more of that typical American pass-the-buck, let somebody else do something. The broadness of the understanding all over our country of the rot that money brings to our "political process" gives us an unprecedented (in my lifetime) opportunity for long-needed change. Sure Baucus is a whore, and I hope the people of Montana oust him... But I live in LA (H'wood) and my US Rep. (X. Becerra), while not as bad, is just not the antidote for what ails us. I'm not a natural organizer, but, Jesus!, someone's got to do something, so I'm contacting every organization I can think of... GreenPeace, Sierra Club, and other environmental organizations, gay organizations, women's groups, alternative health groups... anyone w/a membership list who is sick of being sold down the river by the "Dems". Replace anyone who isn't taking a strong stand! (like Kucinich, Sanders, you know 'em) Let's not let $ stand in our way. Bring back the Populist Party! Get signatures, volunteers, go door-to-door, stand on Hiway overpasses w/signs, like Ron Paul supporters did! They got the guns but we've got the numbers! If everybody across America starts THIS WEEK by the end of July we could be a movement! We could be History! This is how REAL Hope starts... Or, you could just forget it and turn on the tv. The future is not written yet, and, like it or not, the pen is in your hand...
Who is this author trying to fool? Obama doesn't give a sh** about any of it. He's happy to fail himself and rely on the next young and younger batch of suckers to bat for him. The Democrats are nothing but excuses and nothing to combat it. Maybe my voting for Nixon twice and Raygun twice despite my deep regrets exposed the Democratic Party for the sh** they are. The Democrats had their chances but they f-in blew it ! Obama can keep f-in this country just like the rest of the criminal scumbags in Congress but I'm glad to prepare my children and grandchildren to learn from Nader and Mckinney and encourage them to defend themselves and be armed.
both baucus and conrad are traitors to the folks and deserve
to get voted out in the next election cycle.or better yet
they should have to have the same medical coverage as their
poorest constituency.
I don't want Obama to fail. He's failing all on his own.
But is really a misunderstanding of what he is doing. He is succeeding at all he wanted to succeed at- protect the corporate elite at the expense of the public trust. He's selling out like any other mainstream politician (like almost every other democrat). But no big surprise there.
so it goes
www.NotOneMore.US
Exactly. He's bought and paid for.
Fight back with frugality. Save 25% of your gross and keep it in a credit union and away from stocks. Teach your kids to do the same and it will cripple the wall street war profiteering, murdering scum.
NO ONE IS GOING TO HELP US. WE HAVE TO DO IT OURSELVES.
Forget the idiotic nostrums about counting pennies and the dollars taking care of themseves. This ain't about getting rich. This is about denying the evil war making bastards their profits. It's our war against corporate profit, PERIOD.
I must admit that so far I don't want any of the policies proposed by Obama to do anything but fail.
I'd like the stimulas pkgs to work, but they couldn't anything but fail because they had nothing to do with stimulating the economy.
So does that mean I want "Obama to fail" I don't think so. I just want his feed the beasts policies stopped.
The Democrats are pathetic and Obama already is a big failure. There are alternatives. I left the Democratic Party last December and joined the Green Party. The liberal and progressive bloggers and writers do not get it that Obama is not a leftist or progressive and never has been. Obama is out for political expediency first and foremost. The liberal/progressive blogosphere in hating Bush so much lost sight of what and who Obama was throughout the presidential campaign. Obama is a war mongerer just like his predecessors and he does not go out on a limb to take on corporations or banksters, let alone civil liberties issues.
My criticism of Obama comes from that "far left" cry you hear from the likes of Bill O'Reilly. Obama is too chummy with the corporatist-militarist crowd for my liking. Yes, I am on the far left and I do read Socialist magazines on the Internet. Ha-ha too.
I will be voting for Green Party candidates only as the Democratic Party and liberal elites have long lost me when it comes to real deep or honest analysis of not only Obama but of anything! I hope you all stop your apologia's for the Obama administration and the Democratic Party soon as well. Just because the Republicans suck, does not make the Democratic Party any better in getting you those desired results. Just look up the Democratic Leadership Council--that DLC---and understand that is the real agenda of the Democrats. Wake Up!
Remember this from the great Gore Vidal who said that the, "opposition party, the Democrats...isn’t an opposition party. I have been saying for the last thousand years that the United States has only one party—the property party. It’s the party of big corporations, the party of money. It has two right wings; one is Democrat and the other is Republican."
"It has two right wings"
Funny, that's why we're always going in circles?
I used to think that the democrats are only gonna screw the population over 90% as bad as the republicans but with clinton and now obama I wonder if they are that good. 95% may be more accurate. The differences are really getting hard to notice.
Remember this from the great Gore Vidal who said that the, "opposition party, the Democrats...isn’t an opposition party. I have been saying for the last thousand years that the United States has only one party—the property party. It’s the party of big corporations, the party of money. It has two right wings; one is Democrat and the other is Republican."
So we all agree - it's all about the payoffs, yes?
Then Let's Make A Deal with the Dems:
Last year, the Insurance sector bribed you with about $20 million or so to f@# the rest of us over.
How's this - stop f@#king us over and do the right thing, and we'll match the Insurance payola dollar-for-dollar.
Y'all don't care where the money comes from, right? You just want the green. Cool - you got it.
Now go do the Peoples' bidding for a f@#king change...
I like it. But how do we come up with the money, and keep it up? After we run out of money, they will be back again, with even more.
“They” you are referring to is very happy with what Obama is doing. He is serving “them” rather well while keeping up with an appearance of “change”.
Obama is one of “them”.
"Even when the Republicans appear to be on the defensive and outnumbered, they band together and vote as a bloc, while Democrats bend over backwards to be "bipartisan."
"Herding liberals is like herding cats" aside, Dems have to worry about re-election bribes coming almost entirely from conservative banks and corporations of the oligarchy. Reps don't have to worry about that. The more regressive, the more corporate bribes all politicians get.
It's not a matter of timidity. It's a matter of money.
From article: "To get the Democrats to behave in such a disciplined and serious fashion, however, might require a backbone or brain transplant for many of them. But it's way past time for the Democrats to recognize that their obsession with bipartisanship is unrequite"
Is Mr. Parry really that naive? Does Mr. Parry understand how interest representation works in this country? This is not about the false metaphor of "backbones" it is about politicians doing the bidding of their monied constituents. Mr. Parry is either being intentionally naive, or needs to take a Polsci 101 course.
Like many mainstream liberals, he is boxed in by partisan Duopoly politics and its details, the larger significant context is absent. He could have concluded with some contextual factors, like pointing out some systemic and structural constraints, and how to fix them. Or even, some compare/contrast with the way it is done in other countries with better track records. But hey, we live in a bubble of two-party "reality" and there is no alternative, don't analyze just accept.
This article is a great example to contrast the brilliant insights and analyses of say, Chris Hedges, and the mostly narrow, descriptive, predictable, tired, narratives of Parry.
All in all I found this article unhelpful and only marginally informative, at best.
"Mandated coverage could mean a big windfall for the insurance industry, pushing nearly 50 million new customers into its arms."
Damn right. And to make matters worse, stir in that old John McCain non-starter about treating the employer's share of health insurance premiums as income taxable to the covered individual employees. Suddenly you have both a captive consumer market, coupled with an increased regular revenue flow into the federal treasury from the wage earning classes, just to keep the health care benefit coverage that the insureds already have.
This further bipartisan two-step will take us dramatically farther away from a genuine national health care system than we were before the last election.
Bill from Saginaw
"Democrats are so entranced by the siren song of bipartisanship that they appear on the verge of scuttling it."
Gee, here I was thinking it was all the money they're getting from Big Med. You know - the buy-part of bipartisan.
Obama is failing quite nicely on his on.
"To get the Democrats to behave in such a disciplined and serious fashion, however, might require a backbone or brain transplant for many of them."
They should have plenty of backbones and consciences laying around after having them all surgically removed as a rule when entering Washington.
Oregoncharles
They have plenty of backbone. Look how they stand so tall against We the People.
Obama lacks genuine integrity, that much is clear. He presently serves those whom he has always meant to serve (Hint: it's not the general public).
Obama lacks genuine integrity, that much is clear.
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True enough, chessgames56!
But I'll go further and note that Obama even lacks PHONY integrity!
· Yr Obd't Servant
That's a very good expression: "phony integrity". Obysmal had lots of phony integrity during the campaign. Too bad I and millions of others didn't see it for what it was.
Phony integrity in the United States now is epitomized by Glenn Beck. If he wants to be the Republican nominee for president in '012 badly enough, he can secure the nomination. The United States is entitled to a brain dead, mentally disturbed fasist. Imagine if he became president and married Michelle Malkin. The MSM would be writing and broadcasting hysterically glowing stories for well over a year.
Let me see if I got it right, TARP failed because Obama did not give enough money to the entrenched elites?
Would someone loan me a violin so I can play a sad song for our latest victim of our collective demise in the financial markets, Obama. No doubt Obama will ride off into the sunset like his proxy mentor, Bush the II, with numerous corporate speaking engagements insuring a comfortable life for him and his darlings brought to you by the latest reality programing: Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless.
All the while his countrymen dig in land fills for scraps. Parry is one of the few corporate owned yes man who can still bring a tear to my eye. Excuse me while I go get a tissue to blow my nose.