At a time when Obama is sending signals that he may abandon the public option from healthcare reform, a stab in the back to his supporters and those who want the real change that he promised, he is foolish to take sides in the PA primary.

Probably wouldn’t be Lee’s reaction if Obama were campaigning for Sestak.

But Obama is a smart man, and is betting on the horse who can beat Toomey, who can best help the Obama agenda in the Senate today, and who can best help the Obama agenda for the next 6 years.

Specter has certainly been busting his butt for Obama’s healthcare plan. This fundraiser has been on the agenda for a while now. Back in June, David Cohen sent out a letter to the big donors about Obama event.
The event goal is $2.5 million. That’s a lot of coconuts.

I would love to see the Arlen quotes trashing Obama and touting McCain from last year streaming across the TV screen while the fat cats nosh and canoodle in Philadelphia.

Way to go Obama and Arlen!!!!!! cant wait until they visit us out west.

We enjoyed the McCain embrace of Bush during the elections and selection of an intellectually devoid and extreme right-winger as his running mate. It really showed that McCain was “maverick” enough to abandon all the principles that made him a maverick.

Specter is a MUCH more natural and honest fit with the Dems, than McCain is with the base of the GOP.

The more the national party meddles in this contest, the more they shake the netroots beehive, raining cash on Sestak. The image of party hacks and rich donors circling the wagons to protect the 80-year-old Republican is a powerful fundraising tool for Sestak and the netroots. It’s hard being in the majority, yet still unable to get what you want out of the political system. Progressives miss being in opposition to Bush and they’re mad at their party for selling them out on key provisions in much of the legislation passed in this Congress. With no other Democratic primaries going on next May, you can be sure that Specter will be the main villain of those months for PA and national progressives, with a huge target on his back.

Jon-
Netroots has bigger things to worry about with other Senate contests. With Specter running (and Sestak not wasting time, money and resources) the Dems can easily hold onto Pennsylvania.

Netroots has the choice of p!ssing away money on Sestak, so he can be the 57th Dem Senator, or put there money behind the top dozen key races, and have Specter be the 63rd Dem Senator.

If Progressives are “mad” “for selling them out on key provisions”, then they should be FURIOUS at Sestak who voted to give Bush a blank check on Iraq, without the key provision of TimeTables (that Sestak campaigned on incessantly).

You can be sure that as more Netroots donors figure out that Sestak is actually a conservative, he will find their support harder to come by.
I reached out to a core netrooter this weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are people in netroots that have already figured out that Sestak is a conservative and can’t be trusted.

People realize that Specter, his experience and connections are more valuable than having a newbie like Sestak in that important seat.

BTW, how many “volunteers” does Sestak have working for free? These kids are getting ripped off and should be getting minimum wage.

Yeah progressives,

And besides, Specter has said single payer should be on the table… Sestak has refused it as an option.

John

Hope you’re not a betting man because you’d lose. I think it is both wrong and foolish for Obama to meddle in the PA primary. If he switched sides to Sestak, I’d say the same thing. It’s called principle.

More importantly, if Obama abandons the public option in the healthcare reform, he’s going to weaken himself and dilute his message of “change you can believe in” to the point where it is unrecognizable. When is he going to realize that the Republicans are not going to compromise with him? They’re playing him for a sucker, spitting in his face and bleeding his political capital. He needs to show leadership and whip 51 Democratic senators into voting for a strong healthcare reform bill.

Why’s Obama wasting his time and political capital on PA’s primary? Everyone knows that Specter will vote for the public option and everything else Obama wants.

Lee-
If Obama switched sides to support Sestak, Sestak would happily take it. It’s called lack-of-principle. Sestak’s already shown this by going around claiming that Obama really wants him “in his heart of hearts”. So, Sestak’s so desperate that he’s willing to fabricate a “secret” Obama endorsement. (Sestak probably writes about it in his pink “Hello Kitty” diary, too.)

I agree that Obama shouldn’t abandon the public health care option. Obama and the DNC should put some serious pressure on the Blue Dogs.

This also furthers my argument why we shouldn’t waste millions of $dollars$ of Dem resources supporting a Blue Dog like Sestak and not having enough money to keep the 60 Dem Senate votes we have. With that money, we could have 63-64 Dem senators and not worry about the blue dogs. With Sestak, we’d likely wind up with only 57 Dems.

“Why’s Obama wasting his time and political capital on PA’s primary? Everyone knows that Specter will vote for the public option and everything else Obama wants.”

Lee, if you really believe this, that Specter will vote with Obama, then you should be chastising Sestak for wasting time and money on the PA primary. Seriously, if you believe this, you’ve made my case against a primary.

Obama doesn’t want a guy like Sestak, who is NOT a party guy and team player, mucking up the Senate further. He’s got enough troubles with Dems going off the ranch.

So much for the “Change you can believe in.” Six more years of an unprincipled narcisist like Specter is hardly change. We need fresh people in Congress who are interested in a higher idea than keeping their own jobs. At least Specter is honest about his major motive being self-interest. When all is said and done, there is no way that Specter wins in November. He’s done this time. One term too many. So, only issue is whether the progressives have a chance, with Sestak, or if those who miss Santorum will be happy to welcome Senator Toomey. There is absolutely nothing appealing about Specter this time around.

One thing appealing is that Specter is the democrat in a midterm election year that will help our entire ticket in the general. I saw the netroots interviews on tv over the weekend on CSPAN, and i couldnt even figure out what Sestak was talking about sometimes because he rambles on and on. I dont think hed fare very well in a debate.

Rob-
“those who miss Santorum will be happy to welcome Senator Toomey”
That’s exactly why Toomey won’t be elected.

WestDem-
I’m glad somebody else around here actually watched it, instead of relying on news reports that seemed to be pushing a separate storyline.
The sound’s a bit weak, but here is the forum:

http://cspan.org/Watch/Media/2009/08/14/HP/A/22197/Netroots+Nation+2009+Convention.aspx

correction: sound got better after the first few minutes.