The president has backed off from vocally supporting the idea of government-run healthcare, but he's quietly building a coalition of supporters. The challenge: Find a version that can pass. Full Story »
Posted by Kristin Gorski - via Memeorandum, Google News (U.S.)
Good quotes, information verifies other similar stories, such as that on The Hill, but carries it further.
The White House remains sensitive about being viewed as dictating what lawmakers should do. Last week, DeParle and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers told a group of House Democratic leaders that the president is still open-minded about options, according to one Democratic aide. “You get a lot of resentment when the White House comes in to do Congress’ job,” said Dan Meyer, a lobbyist who served as President George W. Bush’s last legislative affairs chief and was a longtime senior aide to House GOP leaders.
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are also laboring to reverse the impression that the public option is a politically risky vote for conservative Democrats.
This quote is then followed with examples of what Dem leaders are doing. I like this quote because it tells us where to focus our attention.
President Obama has cited a preference for the so-called public option. But faced with intense criticism over the summer, he strategically expressed openness to health cooperatives and other ways to offer consumers potentially more affordable alternatives to private health plans. In the last week, however, senior administration officials have been holding private meetings almost daily at the Capitol with senior Democratic staff to discuss ways to include a version of the public plan in the healthcare bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring to the Senate floor this month, according to senior Democratic congressional aides.
I like this quote because it summarizes the article.
I like this quote because it helps us to understand why Obama has not played a heavier hand, and why he continues to work with Snowe, Nelson, Lincoln, Landrieu, Conrad and others.