Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell Reach Filibuster Reform Deal [UPDATE]

Pretty much the same people/corporations/industries that Republicans represent.  

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/
http://www.salon.com/2010/03/29/mcconnell_3/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

While it will be interesting the corporate boards of directors that Obama lands on after the White House, it will be more interesting to see where Michelle Obama winds up.  More and more politicians are working as teams with their spouses, switchbacking between public office and corporate whor/tool-ing (Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao, Chris Dodd and his wife Jackie Clegg, Tom Daschle and his lobbyist wife Linda Hall Daschle, Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas, are just a few examples.  Then there's this.

Before entering the White House, Michelle Obama directly benefitted professionally from her husband's legislative efforts through her job at the University of Chicago Hospitals.  She was also a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (a major Wal-Mart supplier) with ties to Citibank.  
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Filibuster Reform: Senators Reportedly Close To Deal On Modest Limits

Yes. On not getting Democratic voters' objectives met.
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Rush Limbaugh Abortion Idiocy Revealed

Obama is the military.  He's the CiC.  And the refusal comes directly through the White House and the petition system that they've instituted.  
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Obama's Post-Partisan Promise Mellows Amid First Term Gridlock

FWIW, healthcare providers (the people who are actually providing the healthcare to patients) haven't had a raise in close to 20 years.

Meet The New 1%: - Healthcare CEOs replace bankers as America's best paid:

Pity Wall Street's bankers. Once the highest-pa­id bosses in the land, they are now also-rans. The real money is in healthcare and drugs, according to the latest survey of executive pay.  One example is Joel Gemunder, CEO Omnicare, who had a total pay package in 2010 worth $98 million.

Then there are the shareholders.  
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Obama's Post-Partisan Promise Mellows Amid First Term Gridlock

If the Tea Party was any serious threat, Obama would have been running against Michelle Bachman or Rick Santorum in the general election.
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Obama's Post-Partisan Promise Mellows Amid First Term Gridlock

Obama never wanted a public option or single payer.  But to get both off the table, he had to do it in stages.  Single payer first, with big talk about "I will not sign any legislation that doesn't include a robust public option".  That had to happen right off the bat, before negotiations even began.  To make sure that there wouldn't be a public option in any final legislatio­n (and that there really wouldn't be any reform of the system, that the insurance and pharmaceut­ical industries would continue to be able to make massive profits), single payer had to be taken off the table before negotiatio­ns ever began.   Out of sight, out of mind. And that's exactly what Obama did.

Once that happened, then a public option was used as a bargaining chip, to be given up, and we know that from several sources, including Tom Daschle and Richard Kirsch.

A caller on CSpan not long ago asked Richard Wolffe, who was out plugging his latest book written from his special access to the Obama White House, if we're ever going to get a public option to keep costs down.

Wolffe makes it clear that Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democrats never had any intention of going with a public option or expanding public healthcare in any way (although Wolffe is mistaken when he says that Obama never ran on supporting a public option -- Not only did Obama campaign on "a public option", he campaigned on single payer, universal health care -- Here's a campaign ad featuring Obama himself -- See the part where he says he has a plan to "cover everyone'? That's 'universal coverage' -- There's even a graphic in the ad that says "The Obama Plan - UNIVERSAL coverage for all Americans"­.  Obama ran against mandates, and criticized Hillary for them in her campaign promises --  Here is Candidate Obama on mandates -- Here again -- Obama campaigned on public option).

When you follow this closely, when you see enough examples, it's impossible to think Obama is a man of character and integrity, in this business for the People.
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Obama's Post-Partisan Promise Mellows Amid First Term Gridlock

there is no public option because Obama gave up on that without a fight in a futile effort to appease the GOP.

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It had nothing to do with appeasing the GOP.  There is no public option because the insurance industry didn't want one.  Both political parties have signed on to privatizing all American resources and services, including ending government programs that aren't privatized (Social Security, Medicaid, etc.).  That was the reason for making sure that single payer was off the table (and before the negotiations ever began) - So that any 'compromise' position couldn't include a public option.
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