Moveon.org Is Still Mad At Joe LIEberman. Read More Below.

Dear MoveOn member,

I don't remember electing Joe Lieberman president.
But lately it seems like we might as well have: news broke last night that Senate Democrats, under pressure from White House staff, cut a tentative deal to drop yet another piece of their health care bill—the Medicare buy-in—to make Joe Lieberman happy.1

First the public option, now the Medicare buy-in—what's next?
This isn't what 70 million of us voted for last year. And it's time that the man we did vote for steps up to insist on real reform, rather than allowing Joe Lieberman to run the show.

Can you call President Obama immediately? Tell him that you're extremely disappointed in how the health care fight is going, and that it's time for him to stand up to Joe Lieberman and fight for real health care reform, including a strong public option.

Here's where to call:
The White House
202-456-1111

Then, click here to let us know how it went:
http://pol.moveon.org/whcalls/indexc.html?id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=3

This latest bad "deal" is nowhere near final. In order to stop it, though, we need the president to step up. But while there are widespread reports of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel pressuring Senate Democrats to cave in to Joe Lieberman, President Obama apparently hasn't even contacted Lieberman directly to ask him to stop obstructing health care reform.2

As president, Obama wields a tremendous amount of power. He can refuse to campaign or fundraise for healthcare opponents or encourage party committees to withhold support. He can also use his very public role and the media attention that goes with it to push senators much harder than he has. And if there ever was a reason to use this power, passing real health care reform is it.

In these final, intense weeks, it's more important than ever to fight back against attempts to gut health care reform. This deal isn't set—no one even knows if it has 60 votes—and that means all of us, and our progressive allies in Congress, need to stand up to make clear that continuing to weaken health care reform is just unacceptable.

We need the president to get voters' backs. Can you call President Obama right away? Let him know that allowing one obstinate conservative to gut reform is simply unacceptable, and that you're counting on him to step up to make sure we pass real reform, with a public option, this year.

Here's where to call:
The White House
202-456-1111

Then, click here to let us know how it went:
http://pol.moveon.org/whcalls/indexc.html?id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=4

Thanks for all that you do.
–Kat, Eli, Lenore, Peter, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Senators move to remove Medicare expansion, public option from healthcare bill," The Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85791&id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=5
"Rahm to Reid: Give Lieberman What He Wants," Talking Points Memo, December 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85789&id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=6

2. "Rahm to Reid: Give Lieberman What He Wants," Talking Points Memo, December 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85789&id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=7
"Rahm Emanuel Personally Pressed Reid To Cut Deal With Lieberman: Sources," The Huffington Post, December 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85793&id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=8
"Gibbs: Obama hasn't talked to Lieberman on healthcare reform bill," The Hill, December 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85783&id=18286-14371402-sbBA.Cx&t=9

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