In the comments of that post, I made the case against it. I did so for a number of reasons, namely Wall Street and the connections Schumer has there plus some of his past votes (i.e. Iraq War) that weren't very progressive.
I won't let one issue change my mind, but I will give credit where credit is due. When the Senate Finance Committee gathered and took up two public option resolutions, they faced an uphill battle. Everyone knew that, especially when you have senators like Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln, Bill Nelson, Tom Carper and Kent Conrad on this committee.
But even against those odds and those moderate to conservative senators willing to support the Republican position, Senator Schumer stood up and fought for not only the public option, but real progressive health care reform.
This exchange with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) showed that:
Senator Schumer also appeared on Rachel Maddow's show recently and talked about the fight for a public option:
The fight for including a public option in health care reform legislation has led to some Democrats, especially the conservative ones, to oppose any legislation with the public option in it. The leaders in both houses have not stood firm on the issue, letting their rank-and-file legislators decide what they want, thus why Baucus has been able to take ownership (or try to own it) of this issue.
But Schumer has stood up and stood strong for a public option. New York, unlike some other states, has a voice on the Finance Committee during these tough battles. We have a voice who is taking on not only the obstructionist Republicans but the Democrats who are also standing in the way of real progressive reform. Schumer has done great work for progressives everywhere by telling the fellow members of the committee that a public option is vital to any serious reform bill.
Those of us in New York have questioned (at times) just how progressive Schumer is and even some of us (including me) wondered if he was worthy of a primary challenge. His push on this issue makes all of those topics go away for the time being. We don't forget and we can certainly have debates about his past history later. Right now though, we have an ally on the Senate Finance Committee that we need to work with and fight with to ensure that a public option survives.
