Daschle Admits -- Then Denies -- That White House Agreed With Industry To Scrap Public Option

[Freddie Stubbs]

In a candid interview with the Center for American Progress this afternoon, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle acknowledged that the public option didn't survive the health care debate because of a "understanding" that the White House reached with health care industry stakeholders -- particularly with hospital and insurance company trade associations. But the White House has long denied this suggestion -- which was, until now, based mostly on speculation -- and within hours of the report's initial publication, Daschle, a close White House ally, retracted his statement entirely.

"I don't think it was taken off the table completely. It was taken off the table as a result of the understanding that people had with the hospital association, with the insurance (AHIP), and others," Daschle told Wonk Room's Igor Volsky. "I mean I think that part of the whole effort was based on a premise. That premise was, you had to have the stakeholders in the room and at the table. Lessons learned in past efforts is that without the stakeholders' active support rather than active opposition, it's almost impossible to get this job done. They wanted to keep those stakeholders in the room and was the price some thought they had to pay."

That rendering flies in the face of the White House's narrative, so TPM emailed Daschle to ask whether his statement reflected first-hand knowledge of the stakeholder negotiations, or was a conclusion he'd drawn independently. In response, he walked back the entire claim.

"In describing some of the challenges to passage of the public option in the health reform bill, I did not mean to suggest in any way that the President was not committed to it," Daschle emails. "The President fought for the public option just as he did for affordable health care for all Americans. The public option was dropped only when it was no longer viable in Congress, not as a result of any deal cut by the White House. While I was disappointed that the public option was not included in the final legislation, the Affordable Care Act remains a tremendous achievement for the President and the nation."

more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/daschle-admits----then-denies----that-white-house-agreed-with-industry-to-scrap-public-option.php?ref=fpb

[kirby]

1. Weasel words...

"The President fought for the public option just as he did for affordable health care for all Americans"

I think that pretty much sums up his level of effort.

[Lucky 13]

2. Well well well...

... and there it is.

Keeping the "stakeholders" in the room was more important than the single payer option. Placating corporate interests was more important than the best interests of the people. Does it get any clearer than that?

[Little Star]

3. +10000

[hedgehog]

6. I have three kids who have health insurance today because the

stakeholders were kept in the room last year. We got ourselves intro this hole step by step, we'll get out the same way.

[Lucky 13]

7. There is no doubting that it has helped some people.

But I don't know about the MAJORITY of people...
I don't know that it's helped me at all...

Insurance companies are jacking up their rates and screwing with premiums and drug prices remain sky high.

IF I could believe that this is the first of many steps, perhaps I could be satisfied for now... but more and more I get the feeling that what will be done is just enough to keep me placated. That my best interests are being weighed against corporate interests... and the latter is winning time after time. This interview largely confirms that feeling for me.

[Freddie Stubbs]

14. Did it help more people than it harmed?

[Lucky 13]

18. That's a hard question to answer.

YES, some people are receiving coverage that weren't before...

... while others are being gouged with sky rocketing premiums and deductibles.

So you tell me...

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. Would those people have been gouged if the new law had not been enacted?

[golfguru]

30. Your kids could have kept insurance AND we could have had a public option

Those two are NOT mutually exclusive.

By bowing low to corporate pressure, Obama & congress made sure there would be
no competition to for profit insurers from a public option.

The result? The for private insurers are free to jack up premiums of ALL employed
people without fear or constraint.

They sold us off down the river.

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. If the healthcare sector had opposed it, the bill may not have passed

The President can't make laws. Congress has to pass them. And Congress wasn't going to pass a law which most of the healthcare sector opposed.

[Mimosa]

15. I'd thought we the people were also 'stakeholders'

And I was shown the politicos didn't think so.

[Lucky 13]

17. "Stakeholders" means "people with money"

Silly!

[ProSense]

4. How the hell would Daschle know?

"I don't think it was taken off the table completely."

Now there is a definite statement, one worth denying.

How the hell would he know about negotiations he had no part in?

"While I was disappointed that the public option was not included in the final legislation, the Affordable Care Act remains a tremendous achievement for the President and the nation."

Yeah, this is the guy people shouted down until his nomination was withdrawn.

More pre-election noise.

[Enrique]

5. now we KNOW he's going to the white house

auditioning his walk back skills. Very important in the Obama White House.

[ClarkUSA]

9. Funny! Daschle's words are only given credence by some when they can be twisted to attack Obama.

When Daschle says anything good about the WH, he's scoffed at by the same people. :eyes:

WTH cares what this guy says anymore? I know I never did.

It's not as if Daschle knows a damned thing anyway because he was never involved in HCR discussions at the WH after he was jettisoned from HHS Secretary consideration. Guess he misses the limelight.

[ljm2002]

10. "you had to have the stakeholders in the room"...

...well, except for the ones that you kept out of the room altogether, like the doctors and nurses groups who wanted universal single-payer health care.

Asshole. (Daschle, just to be clear)

[Exilednight]

26. Yes, and why not include common folk at the table ...........

people who actually would benefit or be harmed from such legislation.

[COLGATE4]

11. Daschle was (and still is) an asshole. nt

[Aramchek]

12. what is the point of this thread other than to piss people off??

oh, right. there is no other point.

It's shitstirring by the extremely bitter and nothing more.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Do you believe that we are better off not knowing how our government makes decisions?

[Odin2005]

21. Truth is shitstirring?

:eyes:

[Radical Activist]

23. The truth is burried in that article under a misleading subject line and lots of spin.

[fadedrose]

25. Hey, take a break

It's bad enough that the VP, former Chief Advisor, other highly esteemed pundits - and also, the President - have attacked progressives. Do we have to take it from an adamchek as well?

Who the heck put you in charge of our opinions and the right to express them???

[AtomicKitten]

16. Twice on MSNBC Barney Frank said the lack of the PO was NOT!!! Obama's fault.

You obviously will believe whatever supports your already entrenched POV, but Barney Frank was in the fray, privy to this info, and is reliably credible.

[ibegurpard]

20. how unsurprising

[Radical Activist]

22. "The public option was dropped only when it was no longer viable in Congress

not as a result of any deal cut by the White House."

And yet this premise, "based on speculation" continues to be spun and spun into something it isn't. Daschle had to clarify his statement because he knew it would be distorted. The PO has become the netroots' great white whale.

[Lord Helmet]

27. distortion is how they roll

[depakid]

28. The's guy's admission is credible- the backpeddling is not

Simple as that.

Look at some juror interviews sometime and see what they believe in when situations like this come up.

It's always the admission, made when when the witness was being causal or caught off guard.

And for good reason.

[Radical Activist]

29. It's no surprise that you'll always believe the worst.

Daschle's first statement was spun and distorted because some pundits are eager to believe the same thing you are. His second statement was to correct the perpetually dishonest.

[depakid]

31. No, I believe what's not only reasonable given the admission, but what's corroborated

and supported by the subsequent pattern of behavior.

Daschle's initial statement was exactly what it was- it was he- and now YOU who are spinning and distorting.

And here's news: an objective jury wouldn't buy it.

[Radical Activist]

32. Even his first statment said it wasn't taken off the table.

You must filter those words out.

[depakid]

33. The statement says EXACTLY what it says

and the administration's subsequent actions are completely consistent with the existence of such an "understanding."

At the time, before some of the other revelations became public, my thought was that Obama was simply too conflict averse to be assertive on the matter.

Now, it's pretty clear that in addition, something else "was on the table," so to speak. One of those preemptive concessions like we saw with the now defunct climate change legislation.

[BootinUp]

24. Lets all cry in our fucking teacups

pussies!

Elect more liberal Senators and stop crying goddamnit!

[PassingFair]

35. We try.

Then the DSCC kneecaps them and
puts quizlings in their places.

[NorthCarolina]

34. Daschle must have been taken to the woodshed. eom