Obama Is Making the Wrong Decision on Health Care Reform

Posted by Byard Duncan, AlterNet at 1:20 PM on June 24, 2009.

In what seems like a troubling resurrection of the health care status quo, President Barack Obama is indicating that he's willing to part with a public option in order to push through his health care "overhaul." Obama said Tuesday that the White House has not "drawn lines in the sand" about a government-run plan, though he considers it "an important tool to discipline insurance companies."

Meanwhile, Rahm Emmanuel told Senate Democrats Tuesday night that the president is "open to alternatives" to a public option. According to North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad, Emanuel conveyed a sense of urgency on the part of the White House.

"His message was, it's critical that you do this," Conrad told Bloomberg.

With a recent New York Times poll showing 72 percent of Americans in favor of a public plan, one is left to marvel at the eagerness of Senate Democrats to pander to the industry and seek bipartisan support from a reeling GOP that continues to act like a parody of itself. Wasn't Obama's November win supposed to serve as a symbol of how the will of Americans (in the case of health care, around 208,800,000 of them) is more powerful than private interests?

And by the way, if the number 72 looks familiar to you, that's because it's not too far from the 71 percent of voters in November who disapproved of the job George W. Bush had done as president. It's also pretty close to the 68 percent of Obama voters who say they favored him based on his issue positions.

Too bad those are changing so rapidly.

Tagged as: health, obama, health care, emanuel, single payer, rahm emanuel, public option