A SIMPLE LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT ON THE "PUBLIC OPTION"

...President Obama at a Town Hall Meeting

At a time when the president should be absolutely "crystal clear", confusion abounds, the White House staff is off-point and the right-wing talkers appear to be gaining ground.

Mr. President, we are having trouble understanding where your coming from regarding the most serious social issue of our time. And most likely, the issue that could and may eventually define your entire presidency.

Those that voted for you and for a Democratic Congress (finally), now want that individual that when challenged as you were with ending an unnecessary war; with Guantanamo Bay; in dealing with the pirates; and eventually with Reverend Wright; you drew a strong line. In this last case, you explained your position to the public, but after the Reverend went well beyond the appropriate comments, you had the strength and the understanding that the "line-in-the-sand" had to be drawn and "enough is enough". You made it clear! You made these decisions and you moved on.

It´s time for that approach on your position on the health care "Public Option".

This was a key issue for your election win. It is also going to define you and your ability to make those tough presidential decisions.

Today, you must remember that you are no longer a Illinois State Senator or the junior US Senator from Illinois. I am aware that as a Senator, your life is spent in a maze of compromise. (Is that the explanation for why very few US Senators ever become a US President….?) Those times are gone. You are the president of the most powerful nation on earth and compromise is no longer your everyday mode of operation.

You have to state where you are coming from, what you want and what you will or will not accept. Some parts or decisions can be slightly adjusted or some minor changes can be made, but there are some promises to your base that must be kept. The "Public Option" is one of them.

I´m sorry Mr. President, but if your recent comments are serious, this time you are very wrong and out-of-line.

This last weekend in your Colorado Town Hall Meeting, you said: "The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health-care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it." Then on Sunday, Kathleen Sebelius, your secretary of Health and Human Services, told CNN that, "a public option is not the essential element of comprehensive reform". If it´s not essential, how do you deal with the cost issues that a public option would provide? I haven´t heard anyone provide an answer other than single payer or a "public option".

You were both wrong. Secretary Sebelius also mentioned the "Non-profit Co-Op as an alternative to the public option". And we know that historically we have single-payer systems like the VA and Medicare that do work, but we don´t have any large, national medical Co-Ops that have been "real" competition to private insurance companies. There are theories that the Co-Ops would be real competition, but no proof. However, we do have examples of Co-Ops that have failed. As with the old Blue Cross / Blue Shield Co-Op´s, eventually these new Co-Ops would out-source some functions just to break even and as those past companies eventually went private, so could future health care Co-Ops.

But more important Mr. President, you personally have been very strong in saying that the plan "must have a public option", and now you are running away. This is something that you promised, and one key reason we elected you for it.

So now, after achieving a major election win, after the House has gone Democratic, you have also found it OK to allow the Senate Finance Committee to be structured as 50-50 bipartisan, and staffed with the strongest conservatives of both parties. And the Finance Committee is also staffed with Senators that will make decisions while only representing six states with combined population totals that are less than some populations of single districts in America´s larger states. This not an appropriate situation for a representative government and especially for such an important issue for all Americans.

FOX News is now having a hey-day in talking about your running away from your health care plans. And basically, I am questioning my vote for you if this is how you are going to deal with tough political competition.

Mr. President, it´s too early to cave. Please stop allowing your efforts to be hijacked by the special-interest lobbies determined to thwart genuine health care reform. And also please respond personally to the GOP lies that 50% of the American public now believe.

Please don´t give up now. We are so close and we can´t afford to wait another 60 years. "Hope" is always good, but now is the time for action.

Copyright G.Ater 2009

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