The Obama administration is starting to back away from the proposed “public option” in its health care proposal. The one Obama said days ago would make any reform useless without.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says Obama still believes there should be choice and competition” in the health insurance market — but that a public option is “not the essential element.”
And this from Democratic Senator Kent Conrad, this morning:
Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) told a television audience that the pursuit of a public option for coverage was a “wasted effort” that would kill any hope of passage in the upper chamber. Obama, said Conrad, should exercise more humility in approaching a government role in American health care.
“Look, the fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the U.S. Senate for the public option, there never have been,” Conrad said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.”
“So to continue to chase that rabbit is, I think, a wasted effort,” Conrad said.
Which was the problem to begin with, not town halls, or “evil-mongers” in golf shirts. The Democrats never had the votes to push this through the Senate, just like cap-and-trade. The last month splitting the country apart has been nothing but hand-wringing by an administration more focused on its agenda than leadership.The game isn’t over yet, but this is a signal it could be close.
So much for that long-waited return of mature governance to the White House.
And I love Sebelius invoking “choice and competition” in her statement. Still talking in those Reagan-esque tones, though no one believes a word of it.
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Good news indeed, but I’m sure the Obamatrons have some trick up their sleeve. If they cant have their way, they’ll at least leave some stink in the air to cover their retreat.
As long as Obama and company are in charge there will never be a quiet moment with this debate. Trust me, they are going to load their guns for another run at this.
Assuming the Democrats believe their own story about the town halls being astro turf, they may assume that dropping the public option will stop the protesters, as this is what the mainstream Republican leadership wanted most. I think they’re going to be surprised that the Tea Party folks are not going to stop there, and may be encouraged, in fact, to start pushing even harder for deeper anti-statist reforms.
In the words of Daniel Simpson Day, “Ramming speed!!!!!”
As long as Obama and company are in charge there will never be a quiet moment with this debate.
This is a “debate” that the Left has been foisting on us for close to 60 years. It’s a solution for a problem that exists only because they insist that there be problems they can “solve.” They’ll never give up as long as they exist as an organized political force. And that won’t happen until we start rolling back their “successes” going all the way back to the so-called Progressive Era.
in fact, to start pushing even harder for deeper anti-statist reforms.
Now there’s “Hope and Change” I can get behind. Let the Left know that not only is victory never “scientifically” assured, but their past Brezhnevite victories aren[‘t secure either.
I agree with Raoul. Think of this, not as a victory in the public square, but, as a “cease fire”, wherein the enemies of liberty will regroup, re-arm, and lay in wait to attack again, on the day of their choosing. Will we be prepared?
Thats what I have been saying Magnus. Keep your powder dry peeps.
Keep the fort ready.
We won this round, but they’ll be back, and, God-willing, we’ll beat them then.
Michelle Malkin seems to think, and I feel she may be right, that this is not a retreat, but sending up a trial balloon. That President Zero has no intention of backing off.
http://michellemalkin.com/