Pres. Obama pushing hard for public option

by: Clem Guttata

Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 04:40:59 AM EDT

Among many other meetings, Pres. Obama held a conference call with national bloggers yesterday. mcjoan says:

President Obama, along with senior advisers David Axelrod and Nancy Ann DeParle, held a conference call with bloggers this afternoon to discuss healthcare reform and the need for grassroots and netroots pressure on Congress to keep the urgency of the issue alive.

President Obama strongly reiterated his basic principles for a reform bill:

   * Cover all Americans
   * Drive down costs over the long term for both the private and public sector
   * Improve quality
   * Strengthen prevention and wellness
   * Enact real insurance reforms that end exclusions for preexisting conditions, etc.
   * Relief to small businesses
   * Create a robust public option

But the main message of the call was the urgency of getting this done sooner rather than later.

Brian Beutler over at TPM fills in some strategy details on that sense of urgency:

But if Democrats are going to get it all done before adjourning early next month, they're going to have to prevail upon conservative members in their own party--many of whom are trying to slow down the entire reform project--that time is of the essence. Just how successful their efforts will be remains to be seen, but for now, they seem to be trying to divide Congress into pro- and anti- reform camps, characterizing Republican calls to delay as political gambits meant to kill the legislation, and asking those on the fence to choose their allegiances.

The hope seems to be that, faced with the GOP's naked political considerations, conservative and vulnerable Democrats will resist the urge to aid and abet the White House's enemies on Capitol Hill and in the conservative movement, and support swift action.

Sen. Rockefeller is one of Pres. Obama's staunch allies in this effort.

I can't find any public statement from Sen. Byrd on the content of health care reform legislation--it would be a real shame if Sen. Byrd ended up canceling out Sen. Rockefeller's vote.

My prediction

Pres. Obama will be successful in getting cloture in the Senate followed by a simple majority for the bill. There will be some Democratic party votes for cloture but against the bill. (The political stakes will be so high that blocking this legislation will be practically the equivalent of leaving the Democratic caucus. Also, the threat of passage under budget reconciliation makes a filibuster effectively pointless/unlikely.)