Obama cautions freshman House Democrats about the price tag of liberal policies

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Former president Barack Obama gently warned a group of freshman House Democrats Monday evening about the costs associated with some liberal ideas popular in their ranks, encouraging members to look at price tags, according to people in the room.

Obama didn’t name specific policies. And to be sure, he encouraged the lawmakers — about half-dozen of whom worked in his own administration — to continue to pursue “bold” ideas as they shaped legislation during their first year in the House.

But some people in the room took his words as a cautionary note about Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal, two liberal ideas popularized by a few of the more famous House freshmen, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

While the more liberal freshmen have garnered much of the attention in Washington, many first-year Democrats hail from swing- or even red districts and have struggled with how to respond to the emboldened far-left.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-cautions-freshman-house-democrats-about-the-price-tag-of-liberal-policies/2019/03/26/b3ad5492-4f7d-11e9-af35-1fb9615010d7_story.html?utm_term=.0d6ab8add259

[NurseJackie]

1. He's right.

[R B Garr]

37. Yes, he is. Thanks Obama. nt

[DownriverDem]

2. Obama's right

The repubs are marketing masters and destroy us often. We do not need to give them any help. The country is not far left no matter how much we wish it was. As with the our Dem presidential candidates, the question we need to ask is who can win the Electoral College?

[lagomorph777]

34. A little too much to the right for me, though I still like him a lot.

But now is a different time. Boldness is the only thing that will succeed.

[zentrum]

3. OG. Why not

.....come in and caution them about not fighting the TRump Tax cuts for the wealthy which is the real reason we can't have Medicare for all, like all the other industrialized nations. Why not talk about how we can't afford to pay more for health care than anyone else.

And we can't afford to NOT have a Green New Deal.

[Recursion]

4. That's not it

Most of the countries that do universal health care pay for it with a VAT, anyways, rather than progressive income taxes. But money isn't the reason; the reason is that white voters don't want to go to the same clinics as black people.

[brooklynite]

6. Meaningless comment...

People would go to the same doctor they go to today. Nobody, even on the Republican side, has claimed people would be "forced" to go elsewhere.

[Recursion]

20. People *absolutely* would not go to the same doctor they do to day. We need to stop lying about that

Forcing all providers to accept Medicare For All would be a massive shock to the system, and it is completely dishonest to simply claim "you'll be able to keep your doctor". We can't remotely promise that.

[PatrickforO]

8. That's an interesting point. I'm not sure I quite agree, but there is

definitely a racist underlayment in the whole idea of getting rid of 'Obamacare.' Trump and the white nationalists clearly want to reverse every single thing Obama accomplished.

Since much of what he accomplished was actually good policy, their reasoning can only be that they want to reverse everything because he was black.

I can see that.

[Recursion]

21. It's not that *he* is black, it's that black people would start using doctors white people go to

Chris Ladd wrote it best 2 years ago

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisladd/2017/03/13/unspeakable-realities-block-universal-health-coverage-in-the-us/

Why are economically struggling blue collar voters rejecting a party that offers to expand public safety net programs? The reality is that the bulk of needy white voters are not interested in the public safety net. They want to restore their access to an older safety net, one much more generous, dignified, and stable than the public system – the one most well-employed voters still enjoy.


When it seems like people are voting against their interests, I have probably failed to understand their interests. We cannot begin to understand Election 2016 until we acknowledge the power and reach of socialism for white people.

Americans with good jobs live in a socialist welfare state more generous, cushioned and expensive to the public than any in Europe. Like a European system, we pool our resources to share the burden of catastrophic expenses, but unlike European models, our approach doesn’t cover everyone.

Like most of my neighbors I have a good job in the private sector. Ask my neighbors about the cost of the welfare programs they enjoy and you will be greeted by baffled stares. All that we have is “earned” and we perceive no need for government support. Nevertheless, taxpayers fund our retirement saving, health insurance, primary, secondary, and advanced education, daycare, commuter costs, and even our mortgages at a staggering public cost. Socialism for white people is all-enveloping, benevolent, invisible, and insulated by the nasty, deceptive notion that we have earned our benefits by our own hand.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Need to find a way to revoke that bullshit "tax cut" for the wealthy and sell doing so as

"Investments into the future".

The unfortunate thing is that since the U.S. deficit is now so far in the hole thanks to that, the GOP guaranteed that its deficit/debt booby trap would delay putting money where it will help the majority of the people.

[PatrickforO]

9. If you want to open your eyes to monetary policy options, read some

Ellen Brown. Her 'Web of Debt' is a great place to begin, but only after you read Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. I am a 30+ year retiree from the federal government

I have been drenched in federal governmentism!

[PatrickforO]

13. Cool! I serve in government, as well.

But not a Fed.

Seriously, read some Ellen and you won't ever think the same way about monetary policy or the Fed again.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Will have to add it to my

ever-growing reading list. It's been a struggle getting to books of late (and that is with me not watching tv either).

[DeminPennswoods]

5. That's the Can't Do spirit!

nt

[cstanleytech]

11. More like its the "Do it only if you can afford to do it." which is really only common sense.

[DeminPennswoods]

24. The United States has done things much more ambitious

than this rather modest proposal. We defeated the greatest military power of the age to win our independence. We built an Army essentially from scratch during WWII. Also during that time, we kept and recycled everything and grew food on small plots to support ourselves. Oh, and businesses hired and trained women and established in-house daycare centers for their children. We established the National Park System. We learned to split the atom and build atomic, then nuclear bombs and then to harness this technology for electric power generation. We built the Federal Highway System, Hoover Dam, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Tennessee Valley Authority and many other feats of engineering thought to be impossible. We put Americans on the Moon and returned them safely to Earth so often it got to be a little boring!

Our Gross National Product is nearly 20 TRILLION dollars/year and rising. Of that, the Federal Gov't takes about 4T for its budget to support Federal programs. Of that 4T, about 1/4 is spent on the military/defense.

We. Need. To. Start. Dreaming. Big. Again. because we can easily afford it with minimal sacrifice.

If Obama wants to keep swimming in the pool of small ideas filled with deficit peacocks, it's ok, but I am all in for being bold and visionary.

[cstanleytech]

32. I am not arguing with you nor was Obama rather he is simply pointing out

that if they want to do something that they need to find a way to pay for it unlike the Repugnants who like to cut taxes and spend money without planning beforehand.

[George II]

16. "Can't do spirit"? Neither of the two big proposals have any "meat on the bones", they're simply...

....concepts that haven't really been completely written yet.

[DeminPennswoods]

25. Yes, I mean Can't Do

America has always been known for it's "can do" spirit. I have no patience for anyone who wrings their hands and worries things "will cost too much". I'm not satisified with the status quo, but maybe you are.

[George II]

26. So when do we see your plan on how to pay for these things? Got one?

Money doesn't grow on trees, there has to be a plan. We don't have any yet.

[DeminPennswoods]

29. We can start by cancelling the Trump tax cut

nt

[George II]

30. That has to be done by both the House and the Senate. So we can REALLY start....

....by working to get more Democrats in both Houses and supporting them, not by bashing them.

[zentrum]

19. Well said.

[people]

10. But the cost of Trump's massive tax cut for the very top of the 1%?

We are always cautious. Republicans are bold and grabby. We beg and cower, they don't.

[in2herbs]

14. Ultimately, doing something only marginally because of its overall cost is more expensive in the

cost to lives and Mother Earth. IMO I don't care if the 1% is reduced to having no yachts and only one residence if Mother Earth is protected and people have access to medical care.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

17. If we want to get blown out by Trump and the Republicans...

we will continue to push some liberal policies that swing voters will reject.

It's as simple as that.

Who here wants more Trump, more Republican politicians and future Republican presidents?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. It almost sounds cliche at this point

but why is there always so much handwringing over the price of liberal policies when there is so much money being thrown around elsewhere that can be cut out to pay for them?

[Bengus81]

22. THANK YOU President Obama..............

[stillcool]

23. I don't think it matters..

as long as the GOP and the media have control over reality, and people are so very eager to get pissed off at nothing.

[zipplewrath]

27. I'd be careful about this story

It's not so much that I don't think Obama might say something like this, but this is basically second hand quotes. Worse, they aren't even quotes but "summarizations" of what he said. Context and substance are going to be everything here.

[Maxheader]

28. That's good...These freshman politicos need to..

-Watch the price tags
-Get the msg out..but don't get too wrapped around the axial on actions that won't happen.
-Your obliged to wade in the daily crud that your constituents expect of you...clean water,
transportation...big city stuff..

Don't be like kansaas was with brownbutt at the helm..
-Tons of crap that weighed down the courts until eventually they ruled....NO!!

kohak throwing his unconstitutional voting eligibility laws at them further
slowed the justice system down..

[Scubamatt]

31. Double Standard

Do you ever notice when Republicans win, even if by the tiniest margin with evidence of voter supprssion and gerrymandering, the conventional wisdom and talking points is they have MANDATE to be as crazy as they want to be (taking the country along with it), and the left just needs to swing to become more like them? But when Democrats sweep the House in historic proportions, the watchwords are always “be cautious” or “the country isnt ready for that” or “we wouldnt want to scare [insert constituencies].” Ever wonder why that is?

[Jake Stern]

36. Let me spell it out for you M-E-D-I-A and M-O-N-E-Y

Their side controls the media letting the RWNJ's to get their message out far and wide.

As for money, the sad fact is there are far, far more millionaires and billionaires that identify as conservative than as liberal and they donate generously.

Just look at the media's coverage of Democratic versus Republican pols when it comes to health.

They gleefully broadcast every time a bead of sweat rolled down Hillary's face and questioned if she was healthy enough to be president. They ran the story about Bernie's fall over and over again commenting on his ability to be president.

When it comes to Trump's sometimes obvious health issues there's nary a mention. They unquestioningly parrot his doctor's line that he's fit as an ox.

[OneBro]

33. Consider the costs for our current system.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has an excellent response to this issue.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/08/09/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-medicare-for-all-intv-sot-cuomo-vpx.cnn

[Gothmog]

35. I miss having a real POTUS

Link to tweet