Teamsters Chief Says ‘Public Option’ Not Vital to Healthcare Reform

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Teamsters Chief Says ‘Public Option’ Not Vital to Healthcare Reform

Written By : Warner Todd Huston

James P. Hoffa is now saying that if Obama pulls the “public option” out of his healthcare bill, it is not a deal killer as far as union support is concerned.

Hoffa said that he was only interested in what was “doable” and that they need to “get something done… and declare a victory.”

Now let’s take a look at these quotes from Mr. Hoffa, shall we? What does it mean if we aren’t seeing obliged union support without integrity for Obama’s healthcare coming from Hoffa’s Teamsters? Hoffa is saying that he doesn’t care at all what healthcare “reform” will look like as long as they can get it done with and “declare a victory.”

This is unprincipled support of Obama’s healthcare purely for political reasons. What would Hoffa and the unions get from such unprincipled support of Obama’s socialist take over of one sixth of our nation’s economy? Why is Hoffa so disinterested in the actual outcome of the healthcare debate as long as they win it? What will Hoffa get out of this?

It’s all a gambit leading to what the unions really want: the Employee Free Choice Act.

You see, if Hoffa and the unions can be seen by the administration and the Democratic Party as having had a major hand in helping to pass healthcare reform and if the administration can claim a great victory in passage of healthcare “reform,” then when the EFCA comes to the plate Obama might still have enough juice to get the EFCA passed. And the EFCA is all the unions care about. They don’t care a whit if healthcare really passes or not. They just want a feather in Obama’s cap to help give him the power to pass the EFCA later on. If Obama loses his healthcare fight or if he only gets something passed in a materially weakened form, then the EFCA might be endangered.

So, because the unions want the EFCA to succeed later, they are willing to lend unprincipled support to Obama’s healthcare policies now.

It is a sad commentary, but it does show how unprincipled unions really are when all is said and done.

(Cross posted at TheUnionLabelBlog.com.)

http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

Well, the important part of the bill from Hoffa's perspective is the huge Union Pension bailout that's in it. Public, private, as long as they get their money.
http://conservativebootcamp.com martinhale

Of course the public option is not a deal-breaker to Mr. Hoffa. The bills under consideration leave union health plans alone, so he and the people he represents won't be affected one way or the other. The union health plans aren't subject to the exchanges, they aren't subject to any increased regulation, they aren't subject to the punitive fines and fees assessed of individuals and businesses.

So why, exactly, should Mr. Hoffa care about whether there's a public option or not?
http://www.conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish/ reelman

COMPARE ALL HC PLANS HERE

Yes, there are more than two and Republicans have theirs (despite Obama lies to the contrary)…as of September 8, 2009.

CLICK HERE TO COMPARE HC PLANS
http://www.conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish/ reelman

COMPARE ALL HC PLANS HERE

Yes, there are more than two and Republicans have theirs (despite Obama lies to the contrary)…as of September 8, 2009.

CLICK HERE TO COMPARE HC PLANS

http://conservablogs.com/theconservativecrawfish