The Washington Post has long opposed allowing people to buy into a public insurance plan that would depress insurance industry profits. It has made this clear in both its editorial pages and its news coverage of the health care debate. Its alignment with the insurance industry on this issue -- in opposition to a proven method for reducing costs and lowering budget deficits -- has been widely known for some time. Therefore it is amusing to see an editorial expressing surprise that President Obama's administration had not read its earlier editorials. The Post referred back to an article it published yesterday in which President Obama's advisers expressed surprise at the anger of progressives over plans to drop the public option. (The Post departed from normal journalistic standards in allowing Obama administration officials to attack political opponents under a veil of anonymity.) The editorial comments that the administration's surprise "seems hard to believe. We wrote back in April that the left's 'fixation on a public plan is bizarre and counterproductive.'" When a newspaper becomes a reliable mouthpiece for special interests, it should not be surprising that its editorials are not closely monitored. It therefore would not be surprising if the White House staff had not carefully considered the Post's April warnings on a public plan.
--Dean Baker
