To the Editor:
Re “The Fading Public Option” (news analysis, front page, Sept. 13):
It has become obvious to me that, once in office, President Obama never considered his professed support of the public insurance option as more than a bargaining chip to be offered as a compromise at the first sign of pushback from Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
This raises a concern that he will follow the same pattern on global warming and tough new regulation of the financial markets as he has on health care reform: state a strong liberal position, then offer to back down at the first sign of opposition by conservatives.
If he does that, he will be remembered in history not as a strong president in the mold of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but a weak one in the image of Calvin Coolidge.
John Wicklein
Exeter, N.H., Sept. 14, 2009
Note from KBJ: Are you loving this as much as I am?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 