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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
News Obama's ticking off the Left with confusing rhetoric
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Most people can agree that some type of reform is needed, but can anyone agree on what the president actually wants that reform to look like?
After his brilliant beginning, the president suddenly looks weak and unreliable. That will be the common interpretation around Washington of the president's abrupt retreat on substantive heathcare reform. Give Barack Obama a hard shove, they will say, rough him up a bit and he folds. A few weeks back, the president was touting a "public option" health plan as an essential element in reform. Now he says, take it or leave it. Whatever Congress does, he's okay with that.
The White House quickly added confusion to the outrage by insisting the president didn't really say anything new. He's just being flexible. He still wants what most Democrats want--a government plan that gives people a real escape from the profit-driven clutches of the insurance companies. But serious power players will not be fooled by the nimble spinners. Obama choked. He raised the white flag, even before the fight got underway in Congress.
Here's the president taking a question about the public option last week:
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