Hey, We Did Win The Election, Didn't We?

Digby:

Without a public option, I feel like I've got a gun to my head telling me that I am forced by law to pay some CEOs obscene salary with no guarantee that I'm not going to get the shaft if I get sick. Regulation alone, subject to K Street influence and corporate whores in the congress, will not get the job done. Short of single payer, the only thing that even has a chance of working is making these parasites compete. So, on a policy level, I have halfheatertedly supported the only thing that was offered, and am now being told that's going to be bargained away too. Feh.

[...]After 2000, what is it going to take for the Democrats to realize that constantly using their base as a doormat is not a good idea? It only takes a few defections or enough people staying home to make a difference. And there are people on the left who have proven they're willing to do it. The Democrats are playing with fire if they think they don't have to deliver anything at all to their liberal base --- and abandoning the public option, particularly in light of what we already know about the bailouts and the side deals, may be what breaks the bond.

Will somebody please tell President Obama that it's time to kick the Rethugs and his hopes of bipartisanship to the curb, and to start acting like he the election won in a landslide--which he did!--before he gets a rude message from those of us on the left? Enough of this "bipartisan" bullshit! The Republican definition of "bipartisan" is crude effigies of Pres. Obama, screaming idiots and gun-toting vigilantes at town hall meetings, and dissent solely for the sake of power. As Satan Dick Cheney once said, you don't reward bad behavior.

When the Republicans are in the majority, they run roughshod over the Democrats (and the rest of the country). The President, and the congressional Democrats, need to take that lesson to heart. It's long past time for our team to start playing a little hardball. Pass real health care reform, with a public option! So what if Max Baucus (D-United HealthCare) and Chuck Grassley (R-Corn/Wingnuts) want to screw the rest of the country with soft lies and reasonable sounding bullshit? We've got a 60-seat majority in the Senate; let's use it. Pass the public option by reconciliation, and let the Repugs wail and gnash their teeth!

Honestly, does the Obama White House want to see Ralph Nader screw things up again, like he did in 2000?