UPDATE: Public Option Smoke Signals

For a PO to get to this point is fairly significant given that so many senators said it was as non-starter...that is, until they read the polls.

It's amazing there's any WH effort to preserve a laughable illusion of bipartisanship by caving to a single GOP senator on a point that would seriously erode – if not demolish – the benefits of HCR. Better to leave Snowe out in the cold, pass a reform bill that actually has the prospects of restraining costs, and let every single Republican say "No" yet again.

Snowe's "trigger" is lousy policy and worse politics. Let her self-identify with the likes of Inhofe and Bachmann, and see how that goes over in Maine.

So the PO is still alive. Is the opt-out the choice de jour or the most likely to pass – for real or just for now? (Remember the exchanges? It's not quite “Remember the Maine”.) Would any red meat state really have the cojones to opt out, even with nearly states still facing unemployment and foreclosures? Perhaps ones such as Alabama, Idaho, or even ….sorry KT, really, forgive me… Texas? I remember Gov. Perry's harsh words implying an opt-out …of the US. But if I remember, does TX still have the right to carve up herself into multiple states? Thoughts, KT?

Not even the reddest state will opt out and if/when a public option is voted on it will pass. Easily.

The real hurdle is cloture.

KT,
Here are a couple of quick points:
1. This is health insurance reform, not health care reform. Health care reform is going to be a long term issue.
2. If the PO costs the states any money at all, there is a good chance states will opt out. Up here in NH, the state has no sustainable revenue. Adding another expense wil not fly.

Karen, employees are already finding new insurance contracts are rising and in the case of my daughter no choice this year. They have always had two before.

The conservative Senators, and House Republicans plus Snowe are the only ones worried about a level playing field for the Insurance Companies.

OT, but oh, WTF, wow …KT, I just read your tweets and found windycitywatch's rightfully upset tweet about RNC facebook fan post with racist anti-obama poster. I hope you'll grill the RNC on this and post here with some scoop on who / where / what / wtf. Someone screen grab this before it's pulled; other than WTF, there are no words….

I think the big picture is being missed. For decades the Congress has been the Broken Branch of our Government. Since at least 1995 (and possibly before) Congress has done very little legislating as an independent and co-equal branch of our government. Mostly, the House and Senate have stepped in lock-step with Leadership (the Gingrich/DeLay era) or rubber stamped the wishes of the President (the Bush era). The ability of various committees and members to craft legislation and learn to work together has been lost.

One Thing that is clear about the HRC debate is that Congress is being forced to relearn this skill. It is messy and unfamiliar territory to anybody who does not remember what a functioning Congress looked like. Most Reporters, staffers and Members have never covered or been part of a functional legislative process. The measurement for Legislative success over the last 15 years or so has been: are they doing or not doing exactly what Leadership and/or the President wants them to do. The current HCR debate can not be measured by that yardstick. This time success will be measure by how well or how poorly Congress crafts Legislation.

President Obama has given the Legislative Branch his goals and preferences for legislation. He has not given them marching orders--and that is a good thing for our Democracy. Congress will have to sort out the details themselves. It is called Legislation and I for one am glad that this branch of Government is beginning to act like a co-equal part of the Government again. It is also good that President Obama refuses to give into the temptation to tell them exactly what to do. This tough love for the broken branch is way overdue.

Regardless of the HCR debate this is a good thing.

Cheers

This thing where an ad floats right over the text you are trying to read has got to go. I'd love to read Swampland but they aren't making it easy.

Opt-out is a perfect compromise. Republicans and "moderate" Dems can promise that their states will opt out. Then later, they can take credit for a popular program while enthusiastically opting in. Much like the stimulus package.

The WH is still dancing around the issue. The WH is obsessed with Snowe and keeps signaling that it expects something less and will live with it. How is that showing support for the PO? It isn't. It showing support for Snowe, not the PO.

Once one chooses not to view the debate through the distorted lens of Village CW, everything makes a lot more sense.

For about 20 years, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party has fantasized about stealing all the big-business cash that was flowing into the GOP's coffers. Sure there were plenty of corrupt Democrats before then, but they were corrupt on an individual, pragmatic level. They didn't fetishize kow-towing to corporate interests the way the DLC-ers and their progeny do.

There is only one hitch. Unlike the GOP, which openly embraces corporatism as a guiding principle of conservatism, the corporate-Dems must hide their true allegiences.

So, when Dems are in charge, we get this Kabuki: Dems pretend to fight for their middle-class constituents while simultaneously selling them out at the drop of a hat. The corporate donors get what they want (e.g. tax beaks, deregulation, and access) and the grassroots gets the illusion of a party that is fighting for their interests.

This Kabuki requires the participation of a few helpful Republicans. The Corporate Dems can't openly admit that they want to sell out. They need to pretend that they had their arms twisted to cut a deal. The media reliably steps in to praise the spirit of bipartisanship give their blessing to a corrupt state of affairs that serves their own corporate interests.

There is only one hitch. As the number of "moderate" Republicans who are willing to cross over the aisle to deal continues to diminish, the Dems look increasingly foolish. Holding up the most important piece of legislation in Obama's agenda to cater to Olympia Snowe? Please. This only makes sense if Snowe's support is sought as political cover for legislation that Dems want anyway.

Reid said they going forward with WH support public option no trigger.

Various reactions.