"The Obama administration's bottom line on a government health insurance option blurred Sunday as White House officials stressed support but stopped of short of calling it a must-have part of an overhaul.
As President Barack Obama prepares for a Wednesday night speech to Congress in a risky bid to salvage his top domestic priority, no other issue is so highly charged. Obama's liberal supporters consider the proposal for a public plan to compete with private insurers do-or-die.
Republicans say it's unacceptable. It's doubtful the public plan can pass the Senate.
White House political adviser David Axelrod said Obama is "not walking away" from a public plan. But asked if the president would veto a bill that came to him without the option, Axelrod declined to answer.
The president "believes it should be in the plan, and he expects to be in the plan, and that's our position," Axelrod told The Associated Press.
Asked if that means a public plan has to be in the bill for Obama to sign it, Axelrod responded: "I'm not going to deal in hypotheticals. ... He believes it's important."
The biggest challenge Obama faces in his prime-time address is to take ownership of health care legislation that until now has been shaped by political conflicts in Congress. Lawmakers return this week from a summer break that saw eroding public support for an overhaul and contentious town hall meetings in their districts."
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3 months ago
2 comments:
I think that the uncertainty is irrelevant. He wants single payer, and he'll sign off on any Trojan horse that will get him there.
I also think a lot of this has been meant to take the heat off of him. Up to this point, the congress has taken most of the heat for this debate, which has deflected attention from him. In the 90's, the Clintons tried to create it from the White House. It became very polarizing for them. I think Obama wants to avoid that.
backing off a little so that they may impose it under a different label. Leftists never give up, they just rename whatever it is they are pushing, and then try again.
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