While everyone is patting themselves on the back for the movement on the health insurance bill, here's something we rarely see. Agreement from Howard Dean and Joe Lieberman. Unfortunately, what they agree upon is the lack of support from Obama for the public option. No doubt, the White House brain trust thinks that since Obama didn't fight for it, it's not a loss for him. But, we were repeatedly told Obama was "committed" to the public option. From Dean and Lieberman, we learn how Obama defines committed.
Howard Dean:
The administration is to blame for the public option's exclusion from healthcare legislation, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Monday.Joe Lieberman:
"Yes," Dean flatly answered during an appearance on MSNBC when asked if the Obama administration was culpable for losing the public option.
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) insists that the White House did not pressure him to get in line behind either a public health insurance option or a Medicare buy-in compromise during the health care debate this year.
"Well, no. I think I got pressure from the president to be for health care reform," Lieberman said when asked by HuffPost about any pressure from the administration to support either the public option or the Medicare buy-in. "I'd have to think about this, but I didn't really have direct input from the White House on this."
He added that Nancy-Ann DeParle, a top administration health care aide, downplayed the public option's significance early in the debate.
