Boztopia.com

You probably heard over the weekend through various surrogates (including Kathleen Sebelius of the HHS and Obama’s own press secretary Robert Gibbs) that the White House was willing to take the public option–a government-run health insurance./care program that would accept anyone, regardless of preexisting conditions or limitations–off the table in the debate over health care reform. This, naturally, fed into a maelstrom of media spin that the debate was over, which in turn fed people’s frustration and sense of despair over the lack of any real reform.

Both Gibbs and Sebelius have since walked that claim back and put down in concrete that the public option is the best way to go, but this illustrates a fundamental problem with Obama’s administration and style of governance. Whereas the Bush regime was all about pleasing the leader and enforcing ideological doctrine, Obama’s “team of rivals” approach has left the door open for too many of his advisors and surrogates to push their own agendas and goals. This is especially true of what I like to call “The Axis of Evil,” namely Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers–Obama’s chief of staff, Treasury secretary, and economic advisor, respectively. These three guys are machine politicians, perennial insiders, and can generally be found responsible for every misstep or mistake Obama makes.

Emanuel, in particular, cares nothing about the outcome of any legislation beyond victory. Al l he wants are notches in the win column, and is willing to cut deals with the industry’s dirtiest players, regardless of how that blunts any real reform for the American people. Just like Geithner and Summers overrode any progressive voices in the debate over the bailouts, Emanuel is using his influence to get the “Blue Dog” conservative Democrats to block any real movement for a public option in the House, because he thinks it’s a non-starter. Never mind that polls show the exact opposite–in Rahmbo’s world, all that matters is who you have sitting at the table, and that’s not you, me, or anyone who actually could be affected by the debate.

Let me be clear. I’m not letting Obama off the hook. His mantra from Day One on many issues has been “choice and competition” on everything from health care to broadband. Laudable ideas, to be sure, but this is not as simple as introducing more competition to a market. The health care system in particular is dysfunctional because the largest players not only thoroughly dominate their markets, but have used their money and access to block reform on the legislative level. Wonky types call this “regulatory capture,” where government agencies are infested with people who are content to sleep at the wheel and let the market roll unfettered–and we’ve all seen how that turns out. Unfortunately, the infestation is so complete that you have people talking about health care solely in terms of costs, benefits, payments, etc., and ignoring the moral dimension of how horrible it is to be one illness away from bankruptcy in the richest country in the world.

And Obama, unfortunately, encourages this line of thinking at every turn. By taking the single-payer/Medicare For All option off the table–something everyone from Ian Welsh to my mom thinks would work better–he already consented to defeat before the battle was even begun. By continually referring to health care in the language of markets, business, and costs, even when he shares horror stories of how it can go wrong for people, he reinforces the idea that our health is a market issue, not a moral one. Decades of corporatespeak and MBAs running the country have deprived us of the moral language of compassion, of offering care for our fellow Americans simply because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of the cost. As I often say, health care is not like clipping coupons–when you’re sick, the last thing you’re thinking about is bargaining power at the counter.

There is good news, though. The outrage at the idea of Obama giving up the public option was so great that it galvanized the House progressive bloc to stand together and say that a health care reform bill without a public option is dead on arrival.  To be sure, there is much, much more to health care reform than the public option, but this is the cornerstone, the bedrock, the line beyond which no one should dare step. Give that up, and nothing else we pass will be worth it.

This is the way politics is supposed to work. Rather than waiting for Dear Leader to show us the way, we go to our representatives and demand they stand for us–and they do. And for that, they should be rewarded and encouraged to keep up the fight.

Here’s what you can do:

• Donate to a progressive member of Congress who has taken the pledge to support health care reform that contains a public option and nothing less.
• Call your member of Congress and get them on the record as supporting the public option pledge.
• If your representative is a Blue Dog or even a Republican who’s vulnerable in 2010, Organizing For America is mobilizing voters to contact them and urge their support for health care reform, including the public option.
• Most of all, tell the President himself not to waver, falter, or fail on delivering this promise. Call his office, email, use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, sign CREDO’s petition, whatever–but get the message across that health care must include coverage for all and denial to none–and the public option is the only way we’ll get there.

As my friend Mike Lux has said, the battle is not over until the bill is signed, and maybe not even then. We’ve come too far and pushed too hard to give up now. Don’t let the narrative be written for you. Fight hard for what you believe in, because history will remember this as our pivotal moment of change. Don’t you want to be on the right side?

I know I do.