Well look at that... Tom Daschle's joining forces with Bob Dole and Howard Baker to keep a public plan out of the health care reform package. Can't say's I'm surprised - you?
Daschle Folds on Federal Public Health Care Plan
Tom Daschle, Howard Baker, and Bob Dole, offered their solution today to the biggest obstacle to achieving health care reform -- a public option. ...
In a blow to President Obama and many of his Democratic allies in the health care fight, the plan recommends that there be no federal public option, but rather state or regional public-sponsored networks that would compete with private health plans, according to the summary released today by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
"If you want to stop this thing dead in its tracks, or dead on arrival, in my view you put the public plan in it," Dole said when asked whether there were any non-negotiables to deal with when drafting the bipartisan recommendations.
First of all, let's get one thing straight... the public option is not the biggest obstacle to achieving health care reform. Republicans are. So (apparently) are some Democrats.
Now we've all heard about Bill Kristol's memo from December, 1993, advising Republicans to scuttle the reform effort so they could deny Bill (and Hillary) a big win. Bob Dole played a huge role in making sure the status quo survived. He had plans to run for Bill's job after all so he wasn't about to help him on this.
(Come to think of it - so did Newt Gingrich and we're suddenly seeing his mug on the TeeVee again. Coincidence? I think not. But that's another story...)
So now we have another Democrat in the White House trying to push reform. Tom Daschle - who was elected Democratic Senate Majority Leader in 1994 and had to deal with Dole in the last effort to get this done - is now working hand in glove with the guy who blocked efforts 15 years ago.
Dole and Daschle go on to note that for a reform proposal to be seen as "truly bi-partisan", it must attract at least 20 Republican votes. What they don't seem to get is that we don't need a bi-partisan bill here. Democrats control the House, the Senate and the White House. There's absolutely no excuse for them to fail in getting at least a public option into a reform package. This is the kind of thing we elected them to do - health care reform. It's what people have said they wanted in poll after poll after poll. If the Democrats in Congress fail to push for a public option and push it hard - and if the WH fails to demand it - then it's time we started asking the obvious question...
What in the hell did we elect all of those Democrats for last November?
This should be a slam dunk dammit. We don't need high-profile Democrats bedding down with Republicans to scuttle reform. We need them to grow a spine and get this thing done and done right.
Meanwhile, all I can say is thank **** Daschle's not head of HHS right now. He's selling us out before we even have a bill on the table. But then from what I've been reading in the last day or two, Sebelius isn't doing much better by us on this issue, despite her promise to McCain during her confirmation hearings. |
