Lieberman expresses regret for health care reform tension

At a meeting at the White House yesterday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told Democratic colleagues he regretted the tension he’d created within the conference during the healthcare debate while stopping short of apologizing. Earlier in the day Sen. Lieberman indicated he was likely to support the Senate’s health care reform legislation now that it’s been sufficiently watered down so as to be more palatable to Sen. Lieberman’s insurance company benefactors.

Despite all the blame that’s been cast on Sen. Lieberman for his role in watering down the Senate’s health care reform legislation through his threat of a filibuster, Sen. Russ Feingold, among the most vocal supporters of the public option, said it would be unfair to blame Lieberman for the apparent demise of meaningful health care reform legislation. Sen. Feingold noted responsibility for the final form health care reform legislation would take ultimately rests with President Barack Obama, who could have insisted that the legislation contained certain provisions:

“This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place, so I don’t think focusing it on Lieberman really hits the truth,” said Feingold. “I think they could have been higher. I certainly think a stronger bill would have been better in every respect.”

Sen. Feingold went on to note that despite the fact that the Senate’s health care reform legislation is far from perfect, there are “obviously good things in the bill.”

I think it’s pretty safe to say the Senate’s health care reform bill is far from being anywhere close to perfect, and I think it’s a terrible shame that President Obama chose to settle for health care reform that’s far less meaningful and impactful than the legislation he said he’s fight for when he was a candidate for the presidency. While candidate Obama supported universal health care for all Americans, President Obama was all too eager to sell his supporters down the river just to be able to tout a health care “reform” victory heading into the 2010 midterm elections.