[Editor's Note: Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor under Clinton. He was also an Obama supporter even in the face of being in Clinton’s Cabinet (though he resigned in disillusionment when Clinton too became so determined to position himself as a "centrist" that he began to dismantle the New Deal programs that Republicans had been unable to destroy on their own). In the letter below, Reich assumes that the "single payer" is completely off the table, and tries to show Obama why even his "public option" won't win public support unless Obama stops trying to appease the Republicans and stops trying to be a non-ideological centrist. For a fuller discussion of these issues, look at the forthcoming July/August issue of Tikkun, and if you don't yet subscribe, do so NOW, pretty please, at www.tikkun.org or even better by joining the NSP at www.SpiritualProgressives.org]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/06/memo-to-the-president-what-you.php
http://wallstreetpit.com/5260-memo-to-the-president-what-you-must-do-to-save
-universal-health-care

FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2009
Memo to the President: What You Must Do To Save Universal Health Care
Mr. President:

Momentum for universal health care is slowing dramatically on Capitol Hill.
Moderates are worried, Republicans are digging in, and the
medical-industrial complex is firing up its lobbying and propaganda machine.

But, as you know, the worst news came days ago when the Congressional Budget
Office weighed in with awful projections about how much the leading
healthcare plans would cost and how many Americans would still be left out
in the cold. Yet these projections didn't include the savings that a public
option would generate by negotiating lower drug prices, doctor fees, and
hospital costs, and forcing private insurers to be more competitive.
Projecting the future costs of universal health care without including the
public option is like predicting the number of people who will get sunburns
this summer if nobody is allowed to buy sun lotion. Of course the costs of
universal health care will be huge if the most important way of controlling
them is left out of the calculation.

If you want to save universal health care, you must do several things, and
soon:

1. Go to the nation. You must build public support by forcefully making the
case for universal health care everywhere around the country. The latest
Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows that three out of four Americans want
universal health care. But the vast majority don't know what's happening on
the Hill, don't know how much money the medical-industrial lobbies are
spending to defeat it, and have no idea how much demagoguery they're about
to be exposed to. You must tell them. And don't be reluctant to take on
those vested interests directly. Name names. They've decided to fight you.
You must fight them.

2. Be LBJ. So far, Lyndon Johnson has been the only president to defeat
American Medical Association and the rest of the medical-industrial complex.
He got Medicare and Medicaid enacted despite their cries of "socialized
medicine" because he knocked heads on the Hill. He told Congress exactly
what he wanted, cajoled and threatened those who resisted, and counted noses
every hour until he had the votes he needed. When you're not on the road,
you need to be twisting congressional arms and drawing a line in the sand.
Be tough.

3. Forget the Republicans. Forget bipartisanship. Universal health care can
pass with 51 votes. You can get 51 votes if you give up on trying to
persuade a handful of Republicans to cross over. Eight years ago George W.
Bush passed his huge tax cut, mostly for the wealthy, by wrapping it in an
all-or-nothing reconciliation measure and daring Democrats to vote against
it. You should do the same with health care.

4. Insist on a real public option. It's the lynchpin of universal health
care. Don't accept Kent Conrad's ersatz public option masquerading as a
"healthcare cooperative." Cooperatives won't have the authority, scale, or
leverage to negotiate low prices and keep private insurers honest.

5. Demand that taxes be raised on the wealthy to ensure that all Americans
get affordable health care. At the rate healthcare costs are rising, not
even a real public option will hold down costs enough to make health care
affordable to most American families in years to come. So you'll need to tax
the wealthy. Don't back down on your original proposal to limit their
deductions. And support a cap on how much employee-provided health care can
be provided tax free. (Yes, you opposed this during your campaign. But you
have no choice but to reverse yourself on this.) These are the only two big
pots of money.

6. Put everything else on hold. As important as they are, your other agenda
items -- financial reform, home mortgage mitigation, cap-and-trade
legislation -- pale in significance relative to universal health care. By
pushing everything at once, you take the public's mind off the biggest goal,
diffuse your energies, blur your public message, and fuel the demagogues who
say you're trying to take over the private sector.

You have to win this.