Mr. President: No Real Public Option = No Real Reform

The AP is reporting (via the EV Tribune) here that President Obama and his advisers are considering a retreat from the plan for a public health insurance plan.

In the face of Republican opposition in Congress and industry-orchestrated protests across the country, the President and administration insiders have signalled that they don't consider a public option a "priority."

A public *option* doesn't necessarily mean a public *mandate.*

It does mean the availability of a viable and effective health care option for all Americans, regardless of their financial and employment situations.

It does mean the availability of a viable and effective health care option that is designed to benefit patients first, not corporate bureaucrats intent only on achieving their next bonuses.

It also means that members of Congress (and I'm talking to Democrats here. Most of the Republicans there have already sold their souls to one industry or another, but a few Democrats, hopefully enough, still have theirs) have to remember that they work for *all* Americans, not just the ones who hand out max campaign contributions the way that most of us buy a coffee in the morning.

Real reform begins with real change, not with a real rehash of the status quo.


Let me say this to the President, his Administration, and the Democrats in Congress who are enabling Republican and industry obstructionism:


In practical terms, there's no difference them winning and you surrendering.


Either way, America still loses.


Don't surrender, Mr. President.