Obama: "No litmus test of perfection on every bill that comes out of every committee"

[SpartanDem]

In June Obama held a confernce call with various liberal bloggers about healthcare and of course the process of passing the bills came up. I would point out that he never planned on weighing in on the committee procress. So this I think idea that some how he's given up on public option becuase he hasn't disavowed the finance committee bill is a little misguided

Uh, the, the one thing I, I do want to, uh, say, um, uh, to all of you as, as I sign off and, and, uh, David Axelrod and Nancy-Ann DeParle should, should still be on after I hang up, is that, you know, the House bill and the Senate bills are not gonna be identical. Uh, we know this. Uh, the, the politics are different because the makeup of the Senate and the House are different and they operate under different rules. Uh, I am not interested in making, uh, the best the enemy of the good. And there is gonna be a conference committee in which the House and the Senate bills are reconciled that is gonna be a very tough, lengthy and serious negotiation process. Uh, I think that, you know, I, I'm less interested in making sure that there's a litmus test of perfection on every bill that comes out of every committee than I am in going ahead and getting a bill off the floor in the House, a bill of the floor in the Senate. Eighty percent, uh, of, uh, those two bills will overlap. There's gonna be twenty percent that's gonna be different in terms of how it's funded, it's approach to the public plan, it's approach to, uh, the pay or play provisions. And, you know, I think that, you know, we shouldn't automatically just assume that if any one of the plans that come out of the committees, uh, don't, uh, meet our tests that somehow, um, there's a betrayal or there's a failure. I think it's an honest process of trying to reconcile a, a lot of different interests in a very big bill. Uh, the conference then is gonna be the place where these differences get ironed out and that's where, you know, my bottom line, uh, will remain.

http://blog.showmeprogress.com/diary/3210/president-obama-health-care-reform-blogger-conference-call-q-and-a

[saracat]

1. "Uh" it doesn't sound like he is concerned with a litmus test at ALL, even on the floor.

Sounds like any bill will do for him, as long as he gets one.That reasoning doesn't fly for me.I just hope we get a decent public option, and it should be nonnegotiable.

[Cha]

7. That's not how I see it..

but to each his/her own.

[freddie mertz]

2. Not the sort of thing one would expect from someone who still cares...

He's been so unfocused and disappointing on this since the speech.

[rug]

3. There's a lot of apace between 44,000 dead and perfection.

[freddie mertz]

5. Indeed.

Unfortunately, we have a very long way to go to even get close to "decent."

[Dr Fate]

4. Seems like he is anticipating a failure to pass a STRONG public option.

I'd love to see a DEM fight, fight and then fight some more to the end for once- this 10 year long pattern of excuses in advance is getting old.

Yeah- I know- he made speeches. He did not call out Blue Dogs, Reids's inability to twist arms, or DEMAND a STRONG public option in any of them that I heard.

Make excuses for why he did not- fine by me. I've already memorized them too.

[freddie mertz]

6. I've given up on him, sad to say. Very depressing... (nt)