(Politico).Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that President Barack Obama may be facing the first big loss of his presidency because he has not taken strong enough leadership on health care.
Giuliani, in an exclusive interview with POLITICO prior to delivering the keynote address to the second annual GOPAC conference in Chicago, said the president has allowed fears of so-called “death panels” to persist because the White House has not taken a strong enough hand in crafting health carelegislation.
“They never really studied the legislation that has been proposed,” Giuliani said. “The reason for the concern about the death panels is the legislation and the claim by the president that he will cover thirty to fifty million people without cost, and any time you say it’s without costs you raise a number of concerns.”
Giuliani though, said the White House's hand-off approach has proven flawed, claiming that the president has at times lost control of the debate.
“They would have looked more like they were in control and in charge,” he added. “Maybe the president would have had a better performance during the last press conference, when he didn’t seem to know what the plan was about.”
Additionally, the former mayor blamed the White House for the polarizing nature of the health care debate, and said the administration hadn't made an effort to roll Republican ideas into the legislation.
“When president Obama took tort reform, medical malpractice reform, off the table, he also took off the table any hope of a bipartisan solution,” Giuliani said. “It demonstrated a kind of sense that he wasn’t really acting in good faith, that this was a political solution rather than a good government solution.”
While Giuliani conceded that it is likely Democrats will still pass some variety of health care reform legislation, he believes the White House will have suffered its first big loss if the bill does not include a public option.
“[Obama] really defined the terms of the debate. As I listen to the president the most important thing to him is the public option, if he doesn’t get that, then he has lost,” Giuliani said. “If he doesn’t get the public option it will be an immediate and big political defeat.”
The former mayor though said a loss for Obama is not likely to immediately translate into a boost for Republicans.
“The president has the spotlight, it’s not on Republicans,” Giuliani said. “The president could have any number of political defeats right now and it doesn’t mean anything two years from now.”
Giuliani, in an exclusive interview with POLITICO prior to delivering the keynote address to the second annual GOPAC conference in Chicago, said the president has allowed fears of so-called “death panels” to persist because the White House has not taken a strong enough hand in crafting health carelegislation.
“They never really studied the legislation that has been proposed,” Giuliani said. “The reason for the concern about the death panels is the legislation and the claim by the president that he will cover thirty to fifty million people without cost, and any time you say it’s without costs you raise a number of concerns.”
Giuliani though, said the White House's hand-off approach has proven flawed, claiming that the president has at times lost control of the debate.
“They would have looked more like they were in control and in charge,” he added. “Maybe the president would have had a better performance during the last press conference, when he didn’t seem to know what the plan was about.”
Additionally, the former mayor blamed the White House for the polarizing nature of the health care debate, and said the administration hadn't made an effort to roll Republican ideas into the legislation.
“When president Obama took tort reform, medical malpractice reform, off the table, he also took off the table any hope of a bipartisan solution,” Giuliani said. “It demonstrated a kind of sense that he wasn’t really acting in good faith, that this was a political solution rather than a good government solution.”
While Giuliani conceded that it is likely Democrats will still pass some variety of health care reform legislation, he believes the White House will have suffered its first big loss if the bill does not include a public option.
“[Obama] really defined the terms of the debate. As I listen to the president the most important thing to him is the public option, if he doesn’t get that, then he has lost,” Giuliani said. “If he doesn’t get the public option it will be an immediate and big political defeat.”
The former mayor though said a loss for Obama is not likely to immediately translate into a boost for Republicans.
“The president has the spotlight, it’s not on Republicans,” Giuliani said. “The president could have any number of political defeats right now and it doesn’t mean anything two years from now.”
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