HUFFINGTON 09.09.12
on the campaign trail.
“We did not come here just to
clean up crises. We came here to
build a future,” he said. “So tonight, I return to speak to all of you
about an issue that is central to
that future — and that is the issue
of health care. I am not the first
president to take up this cause, but
I am determined to be the last.”
He chastised lawmakers for using the health care debate to score
political points and declared that
the “time for bickering” was over.
But when it came down to actually
securing votes, Obama and his allies continued to employ a carrotcentric approach.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was
granted the infamous “cornhusker kickback,” in which Nebraska
would be granted 100-percent
matching federal funds for the
Medicaid expansion to be required
under the law. When the deal engendered howls of outrage, Nelson had to ask that it be taken out
of the final legislative language.
Then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) was
offered a provision that benefited
medical device manufacturers, who
have heavy influence in his state.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was
given millions in Medicaid money
for her state.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (IConn.), who had promised the
THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION
the two agencies swapped ideas on
how best to deny the allegations.
“Clearly, someone is trying to
short circuit our efforts to try and
make health care reform a reality this year,” wrote Ken Johnson,
a top lobbyist for PhRMA, in an
email to the White House’s top
health care communications official, Linda Douglass.
“Excellent. Thanks Ken,” replied
Douglass.
The White House also denied
the memo’s accuracy, but the final
bill by the Senate Finance Committee produced followed the
agreement almost precisely.
On the Hill, the chair of that
committee, Sen. Max Baucus (DMont.) had been granted a huge
leash to negotiate with Republicans. The negotiations dragged on
for months as the public — with
a heavy assist from congressional
Republicans — soured on reform.
Throughout the summer of 2009,
angry crowds at town hall meetings berated Democratic lawmakers on everything from government
overreach to death panels.
By the fall, with Democrats acting skittish, the president chose
to go big, delivering a speech to
a joint session of Congress laying out the virtues of large-scale
reform. In it, he returned to the
lofty rhetoric that he had featured