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Sherrod Brown: Let's Pretend Obama Committed To The Public Option

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 10:17:24 PM EST
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This is very smart tactics:

On a conference call with reporters just now, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said "[Obama] wants to always be open to ideas...but he sets his standard. [. . . ] The other options don't even come close to doing it." Brown's statement amounts to a belief that Obama has implied a demand for a public option. "I think he laid it out in a way that only a public option will get us where we want to go[,]" [Brown said.]

Good thinking. In fact, take the pledge Senator Brown - "I promise the President that I will never let him down by letting a bill pass that does not have the public option."

Speaking for me only

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    Sherrod Brown: Let's Pretend Obama Committed To The Public Option | 22 comments (22 topical)

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    hehe (5.00 / 6) (#1)
    by andgarden on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 10:19:22 PM EST
    I'm good with that.

    Take The Pledge (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by s5 on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 10:39:02 PM EST
    I'm much more optimistic on Obama's defense of the public option than you are. But the pledge works both ways.

    One thing I will say (5.00 / 4) (#4)
    by andgarden on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 10:44:56 PM EST
    is that I think this speech did a lot to make the public support passing a bill, thus ameliorating some of the summer.

    So now we're back to what's in the bill, which frankly I don't think the President helped much with. And Brown takes a good first step. (Funny how Brown and Obama now essentially share the same electoral fate. As always, Ohio will be a barometer in 2012.)

    If one believes that passing a bill, any bill... (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by lambert on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 11:03:17 PM EST
    ... is good in itself, that is. Perhaps if you're only focused on the mid-terms, or 2012, that would be the case

    Parent
    Raul Grijalva (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by s5 on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 11:19:43 PM EST
    has taken the pledge.

    Well, he's co-chair of the Progressive Caucus (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by shoephone on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 11:28:37 PM EST
    and he has been unwavering on the public option.

    Parent
    He also trashed "triggers" (5.00 / 2) (#9)
    by s5 on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 11:58:03 PM EST
    I think that's significant.

    Parent
    My point was (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by shoephone on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 12:24:23 AM EST
    that because he is co-chair of the caucus, of course he is expected to commit to the PO. That's all. I'm trying to figure out why members like Sam Farr are signalling that maybe the PO is negotiable. I want all the members of the caucus to stick together on this -- or at least the 60 who signed that "no public option, no bill" letter a couple of weeks ago.

    Parent
    Sure I gotcha (5.00 / 4) (#13)
    by s5 on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 12:27:31 AM EST
    Just pointing out that the language he's using is similar to The Pledge, and that he's going one further and arguing against the trigger. It's important language coming from the chair. If he started backing down or left room for a trigger, then we'd be in trouble.

    Parent
    Grijalva is proving to be (5.00 / 3) (#18)
    by shoephone on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 01:26:21 AM EST
    an excellent congressman. I remember how the NY Times followed him during his first year (2007) and he impressed me back then as a very humble, hardworking, no b.s. kind of guy. I appreciate that he is on the PC, kicking a$$ and taking names!

    Parent
    Let's pretend it isn't (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 06:47:20 AM EST


    I agree (5.00 / 2) (#25)
    by kempis on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 07:45:09 AM EST
    I think this should be the strategy of all who support the public option: act like Obama enthusiastically supports it.

    Obama himself is the master of the hedge. He is where he is because of his (and his speechwriters') ability to use ambiguity. You can hear what you want to hear and come away from an Obama speech with lines that "prove" he's on your side. Meanwhile, others with contrary interests can do the same.

    So if Obama won't commit to the utter necessity of the PO, take your side of the ambiguity wishbone he offered (it's the best option, but I'll entertain other options) and run around with it triumphantly as though he did.

    I like it. :)

    I hope he sticks with it (none / 0) (#2)
    by shoephone on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 10:30:56 PM EST
    because the more Senate Dems who come out in favor of the PO, the harder it will be for Reid to play his typical whiney games. It can't just be Dodd and Schumer out in front on this for anything to change.

    But I still have a very bad taste in my mouth for the way Brown flip-flopped on the MCA vote in order to win his Senate seat. Which is why I hope he is serious about standing up for the PO.

    (Yes, when it comes to politicians, I have a long memory and I hold grudges.)

    Er, what's (none / 0) (#14)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 12:36:38 AM EST
    the MCA vote?  I don't recognize the acronym.

    Parent
    Military Commissions Act (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by shoephone on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 01:22:35 AM EST
    which, essentially, made torture legal.

    Parent
    Well, there are successful precedents (none / 0) (#5)
    by lambert on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 11:02:01 PM EST
    One would be in Peter Pan: "If you believe," he shouted to them, "clap your hands; don't let Tink die."

    The other would be the "senior advisor" to Bush, who said: "We create our own reality."

    Good luck with that.

    You are becoming quite unhinged (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 06:48:35 AM EST
    these days.

    Parent
    I mean the guy who thinks dingle payer this year (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 07:08:20 AM EST
    is possible is talking about Peter Pan.

    come on.

    Parent

    Thanks for the link to the (2.00 / 1) (#10)
    by oldpro on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 12:01:36 AM EST
    Suskind article on Bush.

    More than one similarity to these two presidents.  I'm thinking of the bit about Bush being one of the great 'confidence men,' though not in the usual sense of the word.  Rings an Obama bell with me...

    Parent

    I kind of hope they go further (none / 0) (#11)
    by Dadler on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 12:21:46 AM EST
    Push him hard.  Make him choose who he's really going to side with.  But I dunno, right now, blah...I need to hit the hay.

    I don't know (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Spamlet on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 01:49:15 AM EST
    Push him hard. Make him choose who he's really going to side with.

    Don't we know who he's siding with? Why give Obama an excuse to give the insurance lobby an even larger platform? Especially since there is absolutely no room, post-1980, for any thought of a primary challenge to a sitting Democratic president?

    Parent

    Has it come to this? (none / 0) (#21)
    by lentinel on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 05:02:59 AM EST
    "Let's pretend"?

    LOL

    Sherrod Brown: Let's Pretend Obama Committed To The Public Option | 22 comments (22 topical)

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