Healthcare Open Thread

Fineman—Obama's pointless bipartisanship: "[T]he pursuit of [Republican Senator Olympia Snowe] is pretty close to obsessive, which is not a good thing either for Democrats or for the prospects of health-care reform worthy of the name. First, Snowe's exaggerated prominence is both the result and symbol of Obama's quixotic and ultimately time—wasting pursuit of 'bipartisanship.' In case the White House hasn't noticed, Republicans in Congress are engaged in what amounts to a sitdown strike. They don't like anything about Obama or his policies; they have no interest in seeing him succeed. Despite the occasional protestation to the contrary, the GOP has no intention of helping him pass any legislation. Snowe may very well end up voting for whatever she and Democrats craft, but that won't make the outcome bipartisan any more than dancing shoes made Tom DeLay Fred Astaire. Nor would Snowe's vote mollify the GOP grassroots: they don't think of her as a Republican anyway."

Digby:

I keep imagining conversations in the White House right now, where Obama turns to Rahm and says, "You promised that if made these deals with the industry we'd get at least 15 Republicans on board. Now our whole bipartisan argument depends on Olympia Snowe?"

Rahm replies, "I know Mr President. But no matter how much money the industry gave them, the Republicans refused to go along. They won't give us any cover for this no matter how much it costs them.

Obama: So maybe we should just pass the bill with the public option and get it over with ...

Rahm: But, sir. That would mean breaking our word to the industry.

Obama: What about our supporters?

Rahm: You never promised them a public option, remember?

Obama: Right, right. Thank God for that, eh?

CNN—Aide: Reid likely to include public option in Senate health care bill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is poised to proceed with plans to introduce a Senate health care bill with a public health insurance option that would allow states to opt out, a senior aide to Reid told CNN on Sunday."

Jon—Senate Dems to Obama: Um, a Little Help Here?: "After a weekend of furious activity, Democratic leaders in the Senate think they are close to getting the votes they need in order to pass an "opt-out" version of the public option. But they feel like President Obama could be doing more to help them, with one senior staffer telling TNR on Sunday that the leadership would like, but has yet to receive, a clear 'signal' of support for their effort."

Steve—White House 'Completely Supports' Reid's Efforts: "The main story on health care reform over the last few days is that the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid aren't quite on the same page. Reid, by all accounts, is prepared to move forward with a reform bill that includes a public option and a state opt-out compromise. President Obama, according to several reports, is skeptical that this bill will generate the necessary support, and sees a 'trigger' approach as the path of least resistance. Last night, Deputy White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer posted an item intended to knock down talk about differences between the leaders."

BTD: "Certainly this makes it tougher for Obama to publically support triggers. That's a good thing. His earlier dithering has done plenty of damage to the public option cause, not just in the Senate, as Jon Cohn reports, but in the House, as Roll Call reports. Hopefully this will stop the bleeding. At least until Obama and his team try to gut the public option again."

See also:

Maha: Public Option News

Paul: Ridgelines and River Bottoms