From the Huffington Post, with notes of betrayal:
“I believe this is the moment when we must stand as one and say enough,” Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern wrote in a letter to his fellow members.
While he stopped short of formally opposing the bill that is making its way through the Senate, he did express outrage over the concessions made to Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.). “The public option is declared impossible. Americans cannot purchase Medicare at an earlier age. The health insurance reform effort we have needed for a century is at risk,” Stern wrote.
And in a significant change of tone, Stern — who has visited the White House more than any other labor official — called out President Barack Obama for moving away from the promises of his campaign.
President Obama must remember his own words from the campaign. His call of “Yes We Can” was not just to us, not just to the millions of people who voted for him, but to himself. We all stood shoulder to shoulder with the President during his hard fought campaign. And, we will continue to stand with him but he must fight for the reform we all know is possible.
Our challenge to you, to the President, to the Senate and to the House of Representatives is to fight. Now, more than ever, all of us must stand up, remember what health insurance reform is all about, and fight like hell to deliver real and meaningful reform to the American people.
FireDogLake weighed in with a policy defense of SEIU, and an attack on ObamaCare in the Senate:
“Health reform is starting to look like a way to make coverage attractive to those least likely to use it, while making those most likely to use insurance – such as older customers, who would have to pay rates four times what the young pay, with no sense of where that age-banding begins; or those with pre-existing conditions, who would get charged 50% more – unable to afford it. As Jon Walker put it, “This sounds like a recipe to price out the old (nonprofitable) and force only the young (profitable) to buy insurance.”
The Huffington Post then suggests the White House is playing hard ball, right back at the SEIU:
“Union officials, while privately angry with the White House and Democrats in Congress, still need the support of these lawmakers on other legislative priorities. Meanwhile, having poured millions into advertisement and man-hours in order to get health care passed, they have watched in horror as the principles they worked for were abandoned in a matter of days.”
After spending millions to back ObamaCare and being run over by the bus in public, is it any wonder the SEIU is hot? FireDogLake also pounds the White House for their tax on union health plans:
“On the excise tax, this is obviously a key concern for unions, and the best practice would be to enact a carve-out for those who arrived at their health benefits through collective bargaining. The White House is trying to defend the excise tax by saying that it only impacts 3% of all health plans, but with health inflation not expected to end with this bill (perhaps slow down if everything goes well), that 3% number will grow. The CBO score tells you the number will grow. That’s why reformers like it, because it raises more revenue than health inflation!”
Perhaps the Unions are finding out a great truth about the Trillion dollar President, it’s all about him — always. He betrayed the Unions because he thought he needed to, to win. The President threw SEIU under the bus — for his Presidency.
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
So...
marinevet03 Thursday, December 17th at 11:40AM EST (link)I’m just wondering if all of this means that ObamaCare is dying a slow death. Seems like the progressives now have the support they need to kill this thing with the help of Republicans. What do you think, Dan?
Yep
Dan Perrin (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 4:25PM EST (link)that’s what I think
A program that won't work
neoavatara (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 11:45AM EST (link)Well, finally progressives are starting to figure out that this bill is a disaster. Obama simply wants something to sign…not a solution. He clearly won’t fight for it, because that is not his personality. So basically they are going to get some mess of a bill…or nothing at all.
http://neoavatara.com/blog/?p=8719
www.neoavatara.com/blog
At least their principled in their opposition
Dan Perrin (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 4:26PM EST (link)n/t
It's also time
gnomechumpsky Thursday, December 17th at 11:46AM EST (link)for the rest of us to say we’ve had it with the SEIU.
I got a bill obama can sign
bobojake (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 11:47AM EST (link)his resignation.
OH GOD NO!!!
Mike Ferguson (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 1:46PM EST (link)Think about it that makes Beiden President and you know he would make Pelosi the VP. As hot headed as he is he would be impeached then say hello to President Pelosi and VP Reid. I swear I would move to Isreal!
Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
Ronald Reagan
OH GOD NO!!!
Mike Ferguson (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 1:48PM EST (link)That means President Beiden…which probably means VP Pelosi. Then as hot headed as he is he would get impeached then say hello to President Pelosi and VP Reid. ugggggg nightmare
Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
Ronald Reagan
I have heard it said, Joe Biden is the best
Dan Perrin (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 4:27PM EST (link)insurance ever for Obama
Can't decide if I believe that this is all a scheme by SEIU and 'their' man in the WH, or
USNJIMRET (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 12:08PM EST (link)that ‘their’ man is well and truly only his own man.
If the first, then the left conspiracy to delude the masses is greater then the most ardent theorist has imagined.
If the second, then the President is our very own Caligula. Not in the sexual perversion sense, but in the so self serving that 300 million people’s fate and future is of no concern what so ever to him.
Either is a frightening concept.
Although, within limits, the second is the more repairable.
I thought the same thing...
LisaDe (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 12:32PM EST (link)Between Stern and Dean protesting so vehemently, it seemed like a ploy to show “outrage” over insurance companies “winning”. It also gives credence to the riots if they don’t get what they want. I don’t trust ANYTHING that comes out of the mouths of these people.
You are overthinking this
Dan Perrin (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 4:27PM EST (link)really.
I don't think so.
LisaDe (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 4:59PM EST (link)Even Rush Limbaugh today commented about this and said that it is a ploy to make everyone think that Obama isn’t as “radical” and leftist as those. That it makes him look more Centrist. I’m with Rush. There is a reason for everything that comes out of a liberal mouth.
Hey Andy
momo Thursday, December 17th at 12:27PM EST (link)I guess Obamacare is good for me but not for thee!!!
So, if they have town hall meetings,...
ceili_dancer (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 1:34PM EST (link)Will they still block us from going in to express our concern over this pile of dung? Also, what about the rough handling(assaults) of any that spoke out in disagreement.
I say they just sit on their hands
Dan Perrin (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 4:28PM EST (link)and do nothing.
Same old something-for-nothing attitude from the unions
6eorge Jetson (Diary) Thursday, December 17th at 10:05PM EST (link)More healthcare entitlements but they’ll be damned if they will foot part of the bill via taxes on their Cadillac health care plans.