Let’s call him by his Indian name, Barry Two Face, from now on: NY Times Reporter Confirms Obama Made Deal to Kill Public Option

March 17th, 2010

This should be

big news. Even while President Obama

was saying that he thought a public option was a good idea

and encouraging supporters to believe his healthcare plan would include

one, he had promised for-profit hospital lobbyists that

there would be no public option

in the final bill.

…More deeply,

there are serious questions about

the extent to which Obama, with the help of Rahm

Emanuel, used a K Street strategy to pursue health care reform.

The strategy seems to have been to make backroom deals to protect the

interests of the likes of the drug industry and the for-profit hospital industry

in exchange for campaign cash, even if this meant reversing campaign promises to

include a public option to put competitive pressure on private insurance premiums,

and to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and Americans to buy cheaper

drugs from Canada. The result is a health care bill that is generally unpopular with

voters. Questions need to be asked, too, about the extent to which the White

House is following a similar K Street strategy with Wall Street financiers

when it comes to shaping financial reform and new regulations

to reign in the banks who brought the

economy to its knees.

…Polls indicate

that about 60% of voters support

a public option while only about 1/3 support the

overall Democratic healthcare bill. There still time — very little

time — for Democrats to shift course and include a public option in the final

bill, even if it means going back on the White House’s backroom deal with the hospital

industry. If the media picks up on this story, perhaps the White House and

Congressional Democrats can be embarrassed into changing course.

If, on the other hand, Democrats continue to honor these

special interest deals, then passing an unpopular

health care bill may just be walking

into a Republican trap.

Miles Mogolescu

see also: All the Truth

in Barack Obama Adds Up

to One Big Lie and Why Am I

Beefing with the President

of the United States?