Today I went to the rally for the public option at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. The rally was organized by Healthcare for America NOW, MoveOn and Organizing For America.
I think it was a pretty successful rally, with about twelve hundred people chanting slogans an waving signs (a small description, with a picture here). About a dozen teabaggers on a street corner provided some early entertainment, and were duly mocked before they got bored and left to go doing whatever it is that teabaggers do when they are not making fools of themselves on street corners or town halls.
Then we got started with the program: a nice rendition of the Star Sprangled Banner, a fired up pastor, a state senator and speakers from the organizing groups.
Then came the turn of the director of OFA for Georgia. A nice fellow who spoke quite eloquently.
I was particularly impressed by what he had to say about the public option:
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Crickets, zip, zero, nada, niente. He never mentioned it. Not a word.
To me it was rather surreal. At a rally for the public options, in front of a fired up crowd, all the speakers were outdoing each other in praising the value of a public option for a meaningful healthcare reform. All but one, the one with the Obama logo on the shirt.
I cannot say I was surprised, I follow DKos quite closely, and the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Well, now it is not only on the wall, but also on the lawn signs. As others here have noted, the signs OFA distributes at the rallies say "Health Insurance Reform Now". No more mention of Healthcare reform, and no mention of a public option either, not even in small prints on the back side. And the official OFA speakers are engaging in the rhetorical equivalent of a down hill slalom ski race in order to avoid mentioning the PO words.
So, the president has dropped the ball on the public option. Of course if he is presented with a bill containing the PO he will sign it, but he is not going to fight for it. This is not his fight. So much for the change we can believe in.
Anyway, enough about feeling betrayed. I got better by signing the petition at Moveon.org and the other one at boldprogressives.org, then I went back to Dkos and saw the diaries about the progressives in the House and Nancy Pelosi taking a stand for the public option, and I got a little hope back.