Jeez, Louise...It's been awhile since I've heard this kind of caterwauling...In fact, the whining and sniveling about Obama not fighting hard enough (over a year ago) is what brought me here to begin with. And, yeah, it's a little like deja vu all over again.

I've never heard so much pissin' and moanin' over something that MIGHT happen. More stomach acid has been wasted over the imagined results of a bill that hasn't even been completed yet...

Did you guys really think that universal health care was going to happen this year? If you did, I want some of what you're smokin'. If you thought the public option was going to be easy to get, you are just as high. Think about it, people...We DO NOT have 60 votes in the Senate...The Bluedogs are Dems in name only. If the "gang of 16" vote with the repubs, we don't even have 50. So scream all you want, one way or another, compromises are going to have to be made, or you can just scream your way into maintaining the status quo.

There is nothing I would like better than to see EVERYONE have access to affordable health care RIGHT NOW. I'm not wedded to one single way of getting there, but I DO want to get there. However, I am realistic enough to know that it isn't going to happen overnight. The Repubs had 8 years to do something about this, and they did NOTHING. They did not make one single step in the direction of getting affordable health care for all.

So, we win the election...wouldn't really have mattered which Dem it was...Edwards, Clinton, Obama...All wanted to reform the health care system in the United States. And all would be facing the same resistance. None could make it happen on their own. I don't believe that either Edwards or Clinton would be one single step closer at this point than Obama is. In fact, I doubt that either one of them would have been even presenting ANYTHING this soon. They would be dealing with the economy, the wars. I believe it took a man like Obama to even be willing to tackle it all at once. Have mistakes been made? Possibly. Did he bite off too much at once? Possibly.

But when he made the promises he made, we were not in the middle of an economic meltdown. He could have just said, "I'm sorry. In light of the position we find oursleves in, it will be impossible to tackle health care this year. We'll try again when the economy improves and people are a little less frightened about spending all this money." But he didn't. He plunged ahead, knowing that it would be better to get the ball rolling, than to just let all these people continue to suffer, without at least trying. 

So now, here we are. No one knows what is going on. We are fighting and threatening and pissing and moaning, and we don't even know what the bill looks like yet. The House dems say they won't vote for a bill that does not have a public option. A large portion of the Senate says they won't vote for a bill that does. The repubs have managed to convince a whole mess of people that that the dems want to turn this into a Socialist country. I can hardly quit laughing hearing the oldsters on medicare (and their children who would be paying their bills if they weren't) saying that they don't want the government involved in their health care....HELLO????? Death panels? How dare they scare people like that...A 90 year old woman going up to her representative with tears in her eyes, asking him not to put her out on the ice floes...they should be ashamed.

And we're fighting with each other, blasting OUR GUY at the top of our lungs...the repubs have got be getting their rocks off on this one.

I know, we have our principles. We are in the right. We won, we deserve to get our way. I know all that. But at what point do we just say, okay, the ball is rolling. We're not going to get everything we want. We maybe aren't going to get even most of what we want. But we are going to get SOMETHING, and it is going to be more than we would have gotten if we hadn't tried. Are they crumbs? Maybe. Does it just stick in your craw? I hope so. But what is the alternative? Are you just going to take your marbles and go home? Are you going to vote for someone other than Obama in 2012 to show him just how pissed off you are? Well go ahead. And then we'll have yet another 1 term president and we'll be back at the mercy of the frickin' repubs again...Gee, I'm sure looking forward to that.

This would be a different story if the Dems were united, but they aren't. What the hell good does it do for the President to rant and rave in public if he doesn't have his guys backing him?

I'm sorry, I don't care how strong a President you are, you can't FORCE the members of your own party to vote with you. Do you really think he isn't doing everything that can be done through back channels? I refuse to believe it. The Prez wants a win on this...

An amazing amount of progress has been made in a relatively short amount of time. Many, many people are working to come up with the very best plan we can get through, in spite of the fact that many, many are working towards keeping the status quo.

Yelling at and threatening Obama isn't going to get us what we want. It's our own damn party we need to be convincing. Those of you who have Blue dogs for reps, need to be twisting their arms. Those of us whose reps are in line need to be twisting their arms to twist the arms of the Blue Dogs. Because at this point, we can't even get reconcilliation. Write letters, send faxes, slap on bumper stickers, attend town halls, put out your "Yes We Can" yard signs, talk to your friends...But for God's sake don't abandon our President at a time when he needs us so badly. We can't afford to weaken him. We need him just as badly as he needs us, maybe even more. If he does not get re-elected, he will be fine. He won't make the difference he wanted to make, but he and his family will be fine. We will have yet another Republican President...will you and your family be fine?

From our vantage point it LOOKS like Obama could be doing more. But, that's the way it looked last July. And yet he stuck to his game plan and won. He was right. Why are you all so quick to assume his tactic is wrong this time? Can you just allow for the possibility that he knows what he is doing?

Let's give Obama his 8 years before we get out our pitchforks...maybe by then we won't need them.