Health Care Reform: Undoing Obama's Health Law Could Have Messy Ripple Effects
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Point #3:
Obama insisted there be no public option to minimize opposition by the insurance, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries (opposition both to the bill itself and the Democratic Party generally). The secret "quid pro quo" deals he negotiated were based on the premise that there'd be no public option in the final bill ("Obama Made Deal To Kill Public Option").
When it comes to defiant progressive members of Congress -- as opposed to supposedly defiant Blue Dogs and "centrists" -- the Obama White House has proven itself extremely adept at compelling compliance with the President's agenda. Consider what happened when progressive House members dared to oppose the war supplemental bill which Obama wanted passed:
The White House is playing hardball with Democrats who intend to vote against the supplemental war spending bill, threatening freshmen who oppose it that they won't get help with reelection and will be cut off from the White House, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) said Friday.
"We're not going to help you. You'll never hear from us again," Woolsey said the White House is telling freshmen.
When progressives refuse to toe the White House line, they get threatened. Contrast that with what the White House does with Blue Dogs and "centrists" who are allegedly uncooperative on healthcare -- they protect them:
The Politico’s Jonathan Martin reported this morning that Rahm Emanuel warned leaders of liberal groups in a private meeting this week that it was time to stop running ads attacking Blue Dog and "centrist" Dems on healthcare.
I'm told, however, that Emanuel went quite a bit further than this. Sources at the meeting tell me that Emanuel really teed off on the Dem-versus-Dem attacks, calling them "f**king stupid." This was a direct attack on some of the attendees in the room, who are running ads against Dems right now.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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