No Public Option From Obama? Meaningless.
Politico: Under fire, Obama shifts strategy:
Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.
This is a nice chess move from Obama and his team. It softens the picture a bit. He doesn’t want the unpopular Public Option, so now we can all like Obamacare a little better. Is that it?
But there’s no reason for the Mob to change its feelings towards Obamacare because this overture from Obama is empty and meaningless. Who cares if he has no plans to insist on the Public Option? He doesn’t decide what goes into the bill. That’s up to both houses of Congress. If Obama said “I will veto any bill that includes a public option”, that would be something else entirely. But he hasn’t and he won’t.
Related: AFL-CIO says Public Option is an “Absolute Must”.
