Marta Evry has great tips for calling:

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/10643

Obama wants a trigger. It’s out in the open now:

well – maybe. There seem to be varying accounts:

Similarly, the White House is knocking down the Politico report in conversations with TPMDC:

Senators are “still working through the substance and talking to their members about it,” the source said. “They didn’t ask for the president’s endorsement since no decision has been made.”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/death_by_a_thousand_leaks.php#more?ref=fpblg

uncertainty notwithstanding – I’m calling.

Jane, do you have confirmation from anyone other than the anonymous admin. official cited in the article? I’m assuming you do.

So it looks like Politico and CNN are saying Obama wants the trigger, but The New York Times quotes an anonymous Democratic aide saying that Obama expressed no preference.

I’m getting this information from Chris Bowers’ story this morning.

I’ll call but not just because some Politico’s Mike Allen makes up something yet again.

Don’t go Village on us Jane. Using Mike Allen to motivate folks lends credibility to a serial liar.

There should be pressure for Reid get agreement on a strong public option with Medicare + 5%. No triggers, no opt-outs, no opt-ins, no co-ops.

If you look at the Medicare SRG rollback vote, you know which 13 Democrats are squishy on reform. Their constituents need to be calling them as well.

And the ND delegation is still hiding behind rural Medicare rate reform.

Heh. Last time I tried calling Reid the phone lines were burning up with other callers.

What has Obama been speechifying about, wanting a Public Option? If he wanted a PO, he would not support a trigger designed to prevent one. I call BS.

Oh my! Where did you get that Harry Reid photo? I have never seen him look anything but meek.

Oh come on. I’ve said before that this kind of alarmist crap is going to cost you credibility, Jane. And it sucks because I really do admire all the work you’ve put into this. But to make a blanket statement like “Obama wants a trigger. It’s out in the open now.” based on an anonymously-sourced Politico article, when there’s multiple accounts disputing said article, is just irresponsible. The NYT denied Obama expressed a preference for the trigger, and Valerie Jarrett was on TV this morning and explicitly pushed back against the Mike Allen article, while stating that Obama will fight for the PO right up to the end. So either Politico is lying or everyone else is. What’s more likely?

I understand that the strategy du jour is “count on your supporters to attack the right-wing source you leak to,” but that just winds empowering the right wing source who gets the leak (and the traffic), and allowing the White House to have it both ways.

I doubt Allen just made it up — someone said that to him. Others may have said other things to other reporters. But it didn’t happen in a vacuum. The White House’s actions since January have been to support at trigger. Rahm said it to the WSJ in July, he’s been negotiating one with Olympia Snowe, and it keeps coming back like a zombie that won’t die.

Whether or not Obama said it in this meeting doesn’t change the fact that his administration has gone to tremendous effort to push the trigger, and none to push the public option.

Called the 202-224-3542 number and can’t get a person. Anyone have a better number?

Anybody noticing a pattern here? Leak to right wing sources and those who continue to believe what they want to believe can stick their fingers in their ears and say “la la la la la I can’t hear you?”

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress get the message they’re supposed to, in the Hill organ of record (like it or not, and I don’t) — Politico.

As Malcolm X said, don’t be a chump.

over at the Big O:

Earlier this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, White House Sr. Adviser Valerie Jarrett offered a strong defense not only of the public option, but also of President Obama’s commitment to it. (Update: Importantly, Jarrett rejected Joe Scarborough’s suggestion that President Obama is pushing for the so-called “trigger.”)

If Reid knows his goose is cooked in 2010, then what does he have to lose? Well…(in his warped, tiny, little mind) maybe a gig with some Big Pharma / HMO / Insurance company? This is what worries me about Reid. That and the fact that he’s a total dipshit, of course.

What’s the difference between Harry Reid and warm oatmeal?

Warm oatmeal is much more exciting.

I don’t think any one person should have so much power. Screw Reid and Obama. We now have something like 3 lobbyists working every congress critter.

The whole process is completely perverted now. The money guys have poisoned the well and none of the preferences so widely supported by the public from all states in every survey is being considered as the most likely to pass. Why is the will of the people subverted so easily?

Why not confront these critters with the facts?

I wish there was term limits and all of them would be gone gone gone. There’s plenty of talent around but these jerks with seniority and their self serving rules are screwing us bigtime again and again.

Ask how many people support the bloated DOD appropriations, the bailout to Wall Street, the Pharma bill, the Afpak war? We are not represented. No taxation without representation.

It would be nice if just one of those senators who went to the White House last night would be honest with us about what happened.

I’m really f’ing tired of the games from this White House and this Congress.

“It would be nice if just one of those senators who went to the White House last night would be honest with us about what happened.”

May I please stop holding my breath now?

Again, you have no basis to make those claims. We have no idea who the anonymous sources were; they could be Rahm’s dog handler, for all we know.

I’m not saying that there’s no chance the White House is pushing the trigger idea. Maybe they are. But to state it as fact, and leave out the fact that other people from the Administration are disputing those claims, is just irresponsible, slanted journalism. It’s assuming a premise and then cherry-picking the facts to fit that premise. And we should be better than that.

Can somebody tell me if we have 60 members in the Senate Democratic caucus or not?

Really, do we or do we not?

I think Snowe is simply a bipartisan shield whose purpose is to make sure the Dems don’t pass too liberal a reform bill, and to shield the Democrats from the blame (and make everyone forget that they can, with 60 votes, pass anything they damnded well please). But if I give the WH the benefit of the doubt and assume they really do need her vote for cloture, then can they at least tell us why we need her vote? Which member of the Dem caucus can we not get, regardless of how much pressure is applied? Or is it insurance just in case Sen. Byrd is not well enough to vote?

Last night, Howard Dean dodged a question from Rachel Maddow about the fact that the Republicans can.not.filibuster. They do not have enough votes to filibuster without the help of some Democrats. Dean dodged the issue entirely and Rachel called him out on it.

So what’s really going on? Do we really need Snowe’s vote? If, so, which member’s vote in the Dem causus is unwinnable? Who is it?

You’re lookin’ a little bluish-purple over there.

MSNBC is reporting that Pelosi does not have the votes for the strong public option and that there will be a compromise. They say that there will be “Democratic strategists” on to talk later.

I don’t know how much stock to place in this.

Rahma & Bahma are all carrot and no stick when it comes to reform. First the banks. “Take my money and run” was their approach. Now, it’s harsh words and promises in a fight against two decades of rapacious insurance company practices.

Pregnancy – no, being a woman – is an uninsurable pre-existing medical condition. Rape and being a newborn are permanent exclusions from coverage. Rescission is the normal response to an insured filing a claim. All are frauds. Obama is rewarding them, telling insuresters to cut back, not stop, their bad behavior, or else go to bed without supper – next year.

Obama has become the kind face resuscitating Gordon Gekko’s “Greed is Good”. His kindness rewards rapaciousness with more time to rape and pillage. It rewards an Enron cubed-scale of risk and family destruction. He and Emanuel have read the horror stories. They know that a majority of personal bankruptcies are due to medical expenses and that 78% of those are families who had insurance. Knowledge isn’t what they need. Disdain for the voters that gave them an unprecedented opportunity is intentional, not negligent behavior.

What they need are immediate consequences in their political comfort level, constant reminders that constituents are not used furniture to be left on the curb, and consequences at the polls in 2010 and 2012 that are as solid a rebuke of their priorities as the one they delivered to the GOP in 2008.

Given the gap between their promises and performance, it’s no wonder that they should admire not what they can do to the national security state, but what it can do for them.

I won’t vote for Obama again.

I don’t know how much stock to place in this

if we are lucky, Reps Grijalva and or Woolsey will make a statement – neither has launched many trial balloons. it could even come via proxy eg Ellison

and all that whining by the likes of Cooper the past few days tells me we are even closer on the Medi+5 numbers being reported

That’s what I think too … Medicare+5 is the unofficial compromise.

Much better.

Agreed — that’s why we put up the petition telling Reid not to allow a silent back-room filibuster. If Reid won’t tell us which members of the Democratic caucus are saying they won’t vote for cloture (and he won’t), and is adjusting the content of the bill accordingly, that’s what it amounts to and it’s just wrong.

So, as I suspected, Obama was hiding behind the Blue Dogs and the Republicans BECAUSE HE IS ONE.

It is more important to have a Medicare Public Option than to have Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Obama OR THE DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY.

This far into it, from what you put us through, we will get it if it means the REPUBLICANS WILL BE BACK IN POWER, which is happening anyway because you infuriated the base.

Nice going.

I guess you didn’t see this photo, when Harry saw his main squeeze, Hojo kissin’ Dubya

im tired of hearing about a trigger.. how many people die carrying a guns?

if the repugs take control of congress they will take that gun apart and drop it in a vat of acid

If the White House were not pushing a trigger or other defense to a public option, we’d know about it. If it were pushing a public option, we’d know about it. We would hear about Obama and Rahm’s twisting of arms, not just Snowe’s and Voinovich’s and a few other Republicans whose votes might be gettable, but the arms of a couple of dozen Blue Dogs. We’d hear the simpering and yelps and demands for another bone instead of this one.

To paraphrase Conan Doyle: Remember the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime? The dog did nothing in the nighttime. That was the curious incident.

This isn’t to cut Obama slack, since he clearly wants little more than a “win” like Rahm does. But…

Politico appears to be on the full court press this morning with negative PO news. It’s *Politico*, especially Mark Allen. He has no credibility and is little more than a transcriber.

Is he willing to transcribe for Rahm, and at this late date help Rahm not only pull back from a “weak” PO that has votes but pull back all the way to President Snowe’s “Trigger”?

Sure.

I’d take Politico like we always do: with a massive grain of salt.

Granted, the news isn’t great that Nancy is still haven’t to work to get 218 for Medicare + 5%. One can clearly feel the hand of Rahm (and Steney) to keep the Blue Dogs off the reservation even after the extremely good news of the CBO Report.

Frankly, I think Nancy should just say, “Fuck it… I’m putting in Medicare + 5%. We have 200+ votes. Either Rahm & Obama are going to fight to get that through the House, or they can let the bill die.” Call their bluff, Nancy. You’ve got the CBO numbers behind you, and you’ll have several weeks to bang the drum of how the PO helps the *fiscal* side as well as helping the Public side. Make the WH and the Blue Dogs get out there publically to argue against it and vote against it.

John

Good to see you back, Jane … back to your ole feisty self … *g* … you were sorely missed.

So either Obama is secretly more conservative than almost the entire Democratic caucus and is in love with the trigger, or Mike Allen got his facts wrong. I’m going with the latter. I’ve yet to see evidence the WH has ever seriously pushed for the trigger. Discussing the trigger with Snowe, Lieberman etc. is one thing – just covering all your bases with due diligence. I’m sure they’ve also been discussing the robust option with Rockefeller or Pelosi. I’ll believe that the White House is pushing the trigger when someone reports that they told a mainstream/liberal Democrat that s/he should abandon a real public option for the trigger. Admittedly, Mike Allen seems to have been the first person to do that, but it also seems he got it wrong.

The Mike Allen story came out first. It was written about first. It’s consistent with a ten month history of activity coming out of the White House. It’s not “slanted journalism” to take it at face value, any more than we do the other hundred articles that come out each day that don’t contain things that you just don’t ant to believe.

When the other stories came out, we added updates. Clearly they make you more happy and fit with your world view. I guess I should do a post about the history of Obama and the White House on the trigger and inject a little reality into the situation, because “you can’t prove he said it even though it’s true” was something we objected to when the wingnuts out-shouted reality with Bush and the Texas Air National Guard.

Thanks, kyeo. Wasn’t going to go to that trouble but you’ve inspired me.

You’ve yet to see evidence the White House has seriously pushed for the trigger?

Wow. I guess there is a post in order today.

I think Obama is a sock puppet for the DLC and other “centrist” dem froces. I think he belives he is thier creation and owes everything to them.

well said kyeo

Rahma & Bahma are all carrot and no stick when it comes to reform.

Well, they save the stick for their own base, especially second class Democratic citizen progressives and with an exception for vaunted Blue Dogs and Conservadems. Even OFA is getting the stick now so that they can be convinced to sell the bill they “like least”.

Petro,
am concerned that the numbers are there and all this tap dancing we’ve seen in the last few days is a sign Leadership would like to go or is being asked to go in another direction

but then again we have Pelosi loyalists like Eshoo, Wasserman-Schultz, and pretty much all of the CA delegation in the yes column for Medi+5 – which would make one think this is what Pelosi wants – clear as mud to this newbie

will wait for CPC

Please educate me – you have many times before. I’ve seen a lot of reporting that the White House is discussing a trigger (I think it’s their worst-case backup plan), but none that they’ve done anything to fight against a real public option because they actually prefer a trigger.

There is nothing secret about where Obama stands. He is an establishment candidate who voted 100 times present in the Illinois Senate rather than his convictions to retain deniability in his ascend to power on behalf of the top 1%.

Wake up already!

Since there was this kind of dishonesty in dealing with the base. Sending us out like idiots to champion for a cause that was deceptive, I am leaning toward the conservative approach, KILL IT. This piece of crap IS NOT WORTH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO US. ITS JUST ANOTHER BAILOUT.

With this kind of dishonesty, who knows what is really in it. Managed care/ Rationed care panels to deny coverage for saving money? Mandates that would put people in jail or fined out of existence for not buying a product?

Get the heck out of here. Thats it. I guess you WERE LYING. Perhaps about EVERYTHING.

What a depressing end to this.

Perhaps.
But, Politico has proven time and again not be a source beyond reproach.
Just this morning, Pelosi is reported to be “seething” over Politico’s report concerning the fate of the public option in the House.

Democratic lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are adamantly pushing back against reports that she does not have the necessary votes to pass a robust public option and is poised to abandon the provision.
In private, aides were seething that the story was based on politically motivated leaks if not sheer speculation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/seething-dems-hit-back-at_n_331384.html

Anyway, the point of your post is to keep pressure on Reid, and I support that 100%! Keep calling.

Politicians are available to the highest bidder … that is what’s great about a Democracy. *g*

I think Medi+5 has more backers and the CBO says this is the most cost efficient of all that were proposed. If Reid or Rahm or anyone else think they can win a fight with Pelosi, they’re about to meet reality in a harsh way.

For all who would like to join, Jim White has a fresh cross-post up: “Inouye to Join Republicans for Rape?”

Ask Obama how many more years he wants to allow the health insurance companies to rape the public.

Keep calling

Aww shit
Get your scripts ready it’s about to go down
Everybody in the place hit the fuckin deck
But stay on your motherf**in toes
We runnin this, let’s go

I’m on a phone (I’m on a phone)
I’m on a phone (I’m on a phone)
Everybody look at me cause I’m talkin on a phone (talkin on a phone)
I’m on a phone (I’m on a phone)
I’m on a phone
Take a good hard look at the motherf**kin phone (phone, yeah)

we agree on Pelosi. as it is with a certain “tiresome” blogger, she is in their eyes, “the girl” and the fellas have miscalculated big time

Frankly, I think Nancy should just say, “Fuck it… I’m putting in Medicare + 5%. We have 200+ votes. Either Rahm & Obama are going to fight to get that through the House, or they can let the bill die.” Call their bluff, Nancy. You’ve got the CBO numbers behind you, and you’ll have several weeks to bang the drum of how the PO helps the *fiscal* side as well as helping the Public side. Make the WH and the Blue Dogs get out there publicly to argue against it and vote against it.

John

I agree 100%. [This is basically the House parallel to forcing Senate Democrats to publicly filibuster, rather than letting them hide behind the Majority Leader's skirts so as to avoid accountability for their (purported) refusal to be willing to 'move the question' (vote for cloture after full and fair debate) in order to allow a final up-or-down vote on health care reform.]

Before Nov. 2012 America will have suffered another Wall Street bubble bursting, joblessness still above 9 – 11%. dollar cliff diving, wages stagnating. Obama and Congress be legislating for ever greater ‘Privatization’ and ‘laissez faire’ economic prescriptions. Useless Charter schools will suck out money from Public education, DOD funding/expenditures will be increasing, etc.

The shift into an all out populist Revolt will be sudden. The left and right will realize that the primary, de facto struggle is between the top 1% and the rest of us.

A Class War cannot be successfully joined, let alone won, as long as the people are engaged in a Left/Right struggle. Obama and most of the Congress critters are working against the interests of the American people.

Village Cocksuckers need to get booted big time!

Looks like Ben Nelson got the call to circle the ConservaDem Wagon. After unhappily talking about how the Opt-Out was the direction the Senate bill was headed but not saying he would kill it, he’s now speaking a little more strongly:

http://www.openleft.com/diary/15654/ben-nelson-does-not-support-the-optout

Seems like folks didn’t like that there was a groundswell… a strong one. And with the CBO out showing Nancy’s Medicare + 5% Bill looks like a winner, it needs to be killed off now.

Hell, even Ezra was out this morning saying nothing remotely close to Medicare + 5% will come out of conference, and it’s little more than a negotiation game by Nancy.

It needs not only to be killed off, but have the life blood sucked out of Progressive support for it. For us to throw up our arms and give up, taking whatever healthcare “win” the White House, President Snowe, the ConservaDems, Blue Dogs and Senator Wellpoint are willing bestow on us.

John

Well, doesn’t he?

It is my understanding that Rahm wants Nancy’s job in two years. So it is in his best interest to prolong the concept that he, not Obama is calling the shots. It is a win/win for both. Obama gets to hide behind Rahm, and win in two years and Rahm gets to prove he can effectively control congress.

Carri Brown on Politico just posted that Reid is leaning toward including the public option with an opt out.

I’m going to make calls regardless. On another note, I don’t give a rats ass what Obama wants. He already has the healthcare and financial stability my family works our asses off for but because of people like him the bar to achieve that end keeps getting moved father and farther away. Perhaps Obama should be truthful for once in his life.

Sorry pal but you are off on some dead end tangent if you place any weight on what anyone in a position of power has to say. How many times have you heard protestations of fighting for freedom and acting nobly and doing what is right, equally from dictators and democrats and everyone else in between.

Obama should be judged on what he does, irrespective of what he says. So far he hasn’t done a damn thing to promote the likelihood the PO will become law. He is an equivocating opportunist, who will happily do the bidding of entrenched interest as he has already made it abundantly clear.

It is the height of masochism to be fooled time after time after time. Pelosi can be judged as being a promoter of the PO by what she does, so can many others. Obama and Reid in their supposed endless foresighted machinations are not worth taking seriously. All efforts should focus on making clear to these equivocating non-commital simps that they will be booted out of office the next time the chance presents itself.

Jane, since I know you read comments, and I hate to go off topic on this, but I have to say something that someone with some clout might actually see.

I’m 27, and part of that younger generation that everyone is asking “where are they”. All I see from them is answers like “the youth has no attention span” and “The youth just voted to be cool”

And no point do I ever see taliked about the fact that we might feel betrayed by Obama. Nowhere do I see talked about the online town hall where he dismissed the #1 issue as a joke and the internet as not a serious place. Nowehere is the fact that he hyped us up so much that he’s letting us down by his lack of spine.

It’s a real problem I think needs to be talked about. The common sense is that we don’t care about health insurance because we think we don’t need it. No one mentions how hard it is to find a job, or how much student loans destorys our income.

It feels like we were finally given a voice, and had it ripped from us with a “thanks for helping me keep the same old same old in power”. I use the word betrayal because to me and my friends it really does feel like that.

Jane,

I present this to you as a way to rally the youth for health care. We have to show this as Obama and the status quo betraying thier promises and letting the youth down Or we’ll be back to “the lazy youth” all over again.

Take Obama’s youth movement and use it against him.

Sorry for going so off topic, I return you to your talk.

And right on, keep every single bit of pressure on Reid.

I appreciate you amending the story, but my objection was never about altering it to make it fit my worldview. The other stories had been out before my first comment; maybe you hadn’t seen them yet. Either way, I do think it was a bit premature to take the Politico story and run with it as gospel proof of the theory that Obama wants a trigger. I’ll admit that there’s a case to be made for it, but like mikesong says, I’m not convinced yet that he’d prefer it above a real public option.

So no one in power can ever be trusted to tell the truth under any circumstances? Does that include Alan Grayson? It remains to be seen how helpful Obama will be in getting a public option passed, but this kind of sweeping nonsense is exactly what I was objecting to. Demonizing your opponent only works for so long.

Look I’m hearing the same thing about the votes for the “Medicare plus 5,” that they are miles away and the vote count that has been released isn’t accurate. If I thought it was I’d be pushing a whole lot harder. So I even though Politico & Allen are certainly capable of bad reporting, this isn’t necessarily the case here just because people are pushing back against it.

If Pelosi turns up with the votes, that’s great, but if she had them, we’d probably know about it.

So the assholes at Fox News Lite, Politico, are floating a diversionary balloon and the Village idiots believe it. How many times is Politico going to do this before those outside the Village Swamp get the purpose of putting up a ‘legitimate’ Conservative Politics Blog. It has little to do with facts and everything to do with attempting to change the playing field, hamhandedly at that. Gang, can we ignore the next piece of shrapnel Politic throws in the path of progress. They were assholes at the Post and other places that they courted corporatist support for their endorsements. They revel in their status now. They will not disappear from the ether soon enough.
Perhaps this might spur more people to get in touch with their representatives.
Support Medicare Part E.

See the Grayson confrontation of Broun over the ‘bill of attainder’ aimed at ACORN over at Salon.com. It’s priceless. Grayson is a force to be reckoned with in Congress, thank God.

It isn’t based on “the politico story.” It’s based on the administration’s history of months and months trying to make the trigger happen. If you ignore that and cling to the belief that he wants a public option that’s fine, but it’s in defiance of all reason and ignores everything that has happened up to now.

He’s mentioned the public option in speeches but I can think of one article that ever said he spoke about it with a member of congress –it was Maria Cantwell, and she already supports one.

If you’ve got an account that the white house has ever done anything to push for a public option behind the scenes, please let me know immediately, because I’ve got zillions of trigger stories.

many here have voice our concern about what WH actions to date will do to the mulitudes of energized youth.

and dahlin’ it’s on y’all to be the change you seek

you will have to organize, marshal, and solidify your own ranks – it’s the only way your peers are gonna listen. make it however loose or tight you want it to be. call yourselves Not Born Yesterday, Young, Not Stoopit – whatever and get on it.

yes, it will be something of an initial slog having to go against the OFA/Kewlest President Evah ! tide – believe me, we know – but it must come from y’all

I think maybe this is working. Sam Stein and Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post just said it too, so it’s not just Politico.

“The Nevada Democrat, according to Hill sources, is furiously working the phones today to ensure that 60 Senators (including him) will back the provision. The work will continue through the weekend and comes despite reports that the president prefers a public option that would be triggered in by economic conditions over the “opt-out” alternative.”

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/reid-is-only-one-or-two-v_n_331652.html

I have been, I’ve been fighting the good fight. But no one else is bringing it up.

I’d really liek to see this be mentioned more, that the Youth is not lazy we just feel betrayed

Absolutely, being the credulous type that you seem to be, you must have some capacity to tell what motivates people to say what they do. With your gift to tell when people tell the truth or lie, you should be able to make a mint by fortune telling.

Only a simpleton goes by what people tell them. If you don’t go by what they do then you and your money, as they say of fools, will soon be parted.

Did you happen to notice the collusion involving Obama and other acolytes in the greatest theft of public money directed to the banks? If you have to be told not to take people at their word, I wonder if you have left your prepubescent years yet.

And only a demagogue needs to personally attack people who disagree with you. Thanks for the demonstration of the Bill O’Reilly debating techniques. If you’d bothered to read my commments, you’d notice I never said that I believed Obama one way or the other; merely that I felt it was irresponsible to claim we did know where he stood when we don’t.

The Insurance companies have had decades to do what is right. Pull the trigger now.

Thanks Jane and everyone else working so hard to pressure our Reps to actually represent what the majority of the voters want

Again, if you’ll read my comments, you’ll see that at no time have I expressed a belief that he wants the public option. I’m willing to believe the possibility that he supports the trigger; I just don’t think we can take it as established fact.

Jane, I think the work you‘re doing is great, but I don‘t think you know what the President "wants". If this is a tactic to keep people motivated, it‘s wearing thin.
DK – White House Again Voices Support for Public Option

If it has escaped you, I am a skeptic as to what motivates people. I don’t give it any weight because in the end it doesn’t matter.

If you still harbor a willingness to beleive that Obama stands firmly for a PO with no strings attached where is your proof, if not in what he claims?

For the third time, I have never said that I believed in Obama. And my claims that Jane was hasty in her conclusions are included in her update.

hey! look what I found over at HuffPo

an enterprising youth activist might want to hook up with a group like Campus Progress . . . and then take it over via the ground up

it wouldn’t hurt to post a diary about this over at the Seminal – possibly cross post it over at Big Orange. are you ready to be the voice and face of Kos Youth ? :D

and we oldsters here know that you are not lazy or indifferent. full disclosure, I have a daughter in your age group who worked her ass off in 08, now wondering what the hell ?!?!?

Jane, you wanted evidence that Obama has done anything to push for the public option behind the scenes? Please see:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-healthcare-obama-1003-oct04,0,1969667.story?page=1

Story from Oct. 4 entitled “Health care reform: Privately, Barack Obama strongly backs public option”
White House discreetly labors to weave coalition on health care

Choice quotes: “At the same time, Obama has been reaching out personally to rank-and-file Senate Democrats, telephoning more than a dozen lawmakers in the last week to press the case for action.”
“The president has also discussed health care at least three times recently with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., one of the most outspoken Democratic critics of the public option.”
The Cantwell conversation you mentioned:
“When Obama spoke by phone recently with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., he made a point of the breadth of support for the public option, the senator said in an interview. Cantwell authored a proposal to let states set up public plans that Democrats added to the Senate Finance Committee bill on Wednesday.”
“And when Pennsylvania Democrats came to the White House recently to celebrate the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup win, Obama pulled some of them aside and reiterated his commitment to the public option even as Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was preparing a bill without one.”

That’s more actual reporting on actual conversations he’s had than the thousands of “Public Option’s Dead” stories you see every day in the media. I think Obama’s doing everything he can, and is on the verge of victory*, which is damn impressive given the luddites like Nelson and Lieberman he has to work with. Just because most of the press has been dying to write the story that the left lost doesn’t mean we should give them creedence.

*Victory: I think we have to consider an opt-out victory if (BIG IF) it starts out strong nationally and states can’t opt out for a few years. I believe the only states that would actually opt out in this scenario are so red that we can only lead the horse so far to water before it’s better used as an example to the other horses. A trigger, on the other hand, would obviously be a loss. However, I think there’s a chance that Specter was right last night on the Ed show and that something fairly robust can actually get through both chambers. My guess is it just needs some massaging of the rural reimbursement rates.

yeah I’m the same Inquisitr that is all over that page in the comments.

That’s what caused me to post here. The number of “older” people who spit on my generation is infuriating since we’re pretty much the ones whoa re responisible for him even being in office.

The slap to the face of this generation has been staggering.

Right now the logic I’m hearing with the peolpe I know is “We just have to wait till the boomers to die off to get anything done”

Is this really the relationship you want with your kids? Us waiting for you to die and get out of our way so we can fix the world you butchered?