Obama Gets Health Reform Bill He Wanted, Lieberman Gets Thanks, Howard Dean Gets Insulted

Much has been revealed about the loyalties and governing style of President Barack Obama over the long months filled with battles over health care reform. Or should we now call it health insurance reform? Or, in the final analysis, should we call it by its rightful name -- the corporate health insurace and Big PhRMA bailout bill? Whatever you want to call it, we've been shafted. And according to Glenn Greenwald's latest article, that was planned from the git go by the President:

[There is] substantial evidence showing that, contrary to Obama's occasional public statements in support of a public option, the White House clearly intended from the start that the final health care reform bill would contain no such provision and was actively and privately participating in efforts to shape a final bill without it. From the start, assuaging the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries was a central preoccupation of the White House -- hence the deal negotiated in strict secrecy with Pharma to ban bulk price negotiations and drug reimportation, a blatant violation of both Obama's campaign positions on those issues and his promise to conduct all negotiations out in the open (on C-SPAN). Indeed, Democrats led the way yesterday in killing drug re-importation, which they endlessly claimed to support back when they couldn't pass it. The administration wants not only to prevent industry money from funding an anti-health-care-reform campaign, but also wants to ensure that the Democratic Party -- rather than the GOP -- will continue to be the prime recipient of industry largesse.

To Blame? The President Himself
Contrary to excuses being spun by some Obama supporters, Greenwald -- and Senator Russ Feingold -- pin the blame for the crippled bill on the President himself:

Obama supporters are eager to depict the White House as nothing more than a helpless victim in all of this -- the President so deeply wanted a more progressive bill but was sadly thwarted in his noble efforts by those inhumane, corrupt Congressional "centrists." Right. The evidence was overwhelming from the start that the White House was not only indifferent, but opposed, to the provisions most important to progressives. The administration is getting the bill which they, more or less, wanted from the start -- the one that is a huge boon to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industry. And kudos to Russ Feingold for .

Feingold said that responsibility ultimately rests with President Barack Obama and he could have insisted on a higher standard for the legislation. "This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place, so I don’t think focusing it on Lieberman really hits the truth," he said.

Greenwald also counters the claims in defense of Obama provided by bloggers like Matt Yglesias, Ezra Klein and Steve Benen that Obama was incapable of applying any effective pressure on the Congress. He asks why the "centrists" weren't threatened like progressives were when Obama wanted war funding:

Why didn't they tell Blanche Lincoln -- in a desperate fight for her political life -- that she would "never hear from them again," and would lose DNC and other Democratic institutional support, if she filibustered the public option? Why haven't they threatened to remove Joe Lieberman's cherished Homeland Security Chairmanship if he's been sabotaging the President's agenda? Why hasn't the President been rhetorically pressuring Senators to support the public option and Medicare buy-in, or taking any of the other steps outlined here by Adam Green [must read]? There's no guarantee that it would have worked -- Obama is not omnipotent and he can't always control Congressional outcomes -- but the lack of any such efforts is extremely telling about what the White House really wanted here.

Insulting Dean, Thanking Lieberman
Even more telling is the White House treatment of Howard Dean, who has said the bill is not reform and should be killed, versus that of Joe Lieberman, who is set up in the media as the evil doer. Please go read this post on Firedoglake that reports on a big press party at the White House last night. White House officials were reportedly having a field day ragging on Howard Dean, going so far as to call him "irrelevant." No, these operatives weren't expressing any anger about the immoral, pomposity that is Joe Lieberman -- they were mad at Dean for calling a spade a spade. Meanwhile, according Joe, Obama thanked Lieberman personally and privately for his support of the now stripped-down, corporate-friendly bill. Go figure.

Jane Hamsher believes Lieberman is merely carrying out part of Obama's plan:

Lieberman is doing exactly what the White House wants: jamming through the Senate Finance Committee bill they negotiated last summer, which had neither a public plan nor an expansion of Medicare benefits (but a sweetheart PhRMA deal). It completely dispenses with even the fig leaf of a never-to-be-pulled “trigger.” I’m not quite sure why anyone thinks the White House would be upset with what Lieberman is doing, but apparently, they’re not.

Bottom line: Let's start seeing President Obama for who he really is, and who he really represents. Crumbs for us, largesse for the corporate masters. It pains me greatly to say that.