ACTION: Call The White House, Demand The Public Option

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

There were many things the Dog thought might happen with the debate about Health Care Reform. It was always going to be a tough fight, the amounts of money involved and the absolute cravenness of the Republican Party made this a foregone conclusion. However the list of things which he could have predicted did not include the President who ran on the premise of a public option failing to fight for it was never on the list.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

The reporting yesterday and last night clearly indicates this is what we are likely to see in his speech on Wednesday night before the joint session of Congress. This is frankly unacceptable. President Obama ran on a platform of change, he inspired many in this nation to believe things would be different under his administration and he himself set the goals we were told to expect. We were told that he would reform health care so there would be competition. So there would be choice and this is what we should expect from him and his administration.

It is not acceptable for the White House to fail to lead on this issue. It has not been acceptable for them to continue to negotiate with those who were never acting in good faith on the Republican side. The Presidents failure to be clear with what he would and would not accept in a bill, beyond his assertion that it must be revenue neutral has been a major part of the problem from the start. The Dog understand and applauds the Presidents understanding of the need for the Congress to be a major party of any legislation as historic as this, but there is also a need to provide the outlines for what would be an signature issue for this President. His failure to do so has lead him to a place where it seems he is ready to alienate his base just to check a box called Health Care Reform.

However, some of the blame for this state of affairs lies with us as well. It seems we focused our efforts on the House and the Senate in the assumption that we did not need to let the White House know where we stood. This is a mistake the Dog believes we need to remedy before it is finally too late to act.

Today the Dog is calling on everyone who has called Senators or attended a Town Hall or done anything by way of trying to move this issue forward to make one more set of calls, this time to the White House and the President of the United States.

Normally the Dog would not suggest people make threats of withholding support over a single issue, but if this is your issue. If this really is where you are ready to say “Lead or be replaced Mr. President.” say it now. The Dog will provide a small script you can use or you can just tell your story. If you are disillusioned by the actions being signaled by the President, then tell his staff this is the case. This is the last chance we will have to sway him, we must take it.

Here is number to call 202-456-1111. That is the comment line, when you call you might use the following as a script:

Hi my name is (your name),

I am calling today as citizen who worked and voted for the President. Would you please pass on to the President that I will not be able to continue to support him if he does not insist on a public option in the Health Care Reform bill.  Part of the reason I supported the President was his pledge to enact such an option and his failing to do so will be viewed by me as a betrayal.

I fully support the Progressive Caucus in the House in their plan to not support any bill which does not include a public option. We need the Presidents leadership on this issue, he has promised to do this and I will be holding him to this promise. With a large majority in the House and Senate a Democratic President should be able to pass a plan that has the support of 70% of the nation. If he can not, then it might be best to back a primary challenger.

Please tell the President to stand up for the people of this nation. If he does he will have our support.

Thank you.

Whatever you say, be polite but firm. The whole point here is to light up the switch boards at the White House so the President understands that there are people who will not accept half a loaf on this issue. The public option is the ball game long term. Once that is in place there is no stopping the trend to single payer, but if we fail now, then who knows how long it will be until we have real reform?

You can also e-mail the President at this link. Please take a couple of minutes to do so, as e-mail and calls will multiply the effect.

The Dog is unsure if this will work or not, but we have come this far; we have worked this hard already; why not take our last shots when we need them? Even if you have called and written 50 times before, doing so today is critical. It only take a few minutes to do, so do it! If you want extra credit, then tell everyone you know who wants the public option to do the same. If we make a big enough splash then we might be able to head off the biggest mistake of the Obama Administration.

The floor is yours.