"We have seen obviously that though there are some that are supportive of this, there isn't enough political support in a majority to get this through," Gibbs responded. "The president... took the Senate bill as the base and looks forward to discussing consensus ideas on Thursday."
Of course, the public option did have a majority of votes only a few weeks ago. That is according to public whip counts and statements from senators like Tom Harkin (D-IA). So, the reason it probably does not have the votes is because Obama refuses to push for it -- and, more importantly, has surrogates like Robert Gibbs go out to try to suppress efforts to round up the votes.
The important thing is that Gibbs refuses to say that the public option is not included because Obama does not want it included. Honesty like that would require courage, so Gibbs passes the blame to an unnamed group of at least 10 Democrats, tossing the public option hot potato right back into Harry Reid's lap. (Previous scapegoats were "bipartisanship," Olympia Snowe, and then Joe Lieberman.) If Democrats are going to break their promise and fail to deliver on a public option that enjoys overwhelming support among the American people is because of ten members of the Democratic Senate caucus, then we deserve to know who they are.
So, Secretary Gibbs, who are the ten senators who will kill the public option that Obama promised?
We live in a Democracy and have the right to judge our representatives by their actions. Tell us, who are the ten members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who choose their the private insurance lobbyist pals over the majority of Americans. This is the inherent transparency necessary for a functioning Democracy, and key to fixing the ways of Washington--something Obama ran on in 2008.
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