Backtracking on backtracking.

Richard Pryor had this great bit in which he asked a woman who saw him cheating with another woman, “Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?”

The White House is basically asking us the same question — only it’s not so funny.

Over the weekend President Obama, Secretary Sebelius, White House spokesman Gibbs went to great pains to tell us that a public option was not an essential ingredient in health care reform. Indeed, the president said that we were “fixated” on the public option.

Yesterday and today we are being told that the president has not changed positions. Really? As the Washington Post reminded us today,

President Obama had pushed a nonprofit, government-sponsored insurance plan as an alternative to existing insurance companies, saying that a public program would compete with the industry and help reduce costs.

But this is what Gibbs had to say about the “apparent” shift in the president’s priorities:

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. . .said Obama has not shifted his position, suggesting that the president’s support for a public option had never been absolute. “The goals are choice and competition. His preference is a public option. If there are other ideas, he’s happy to look at them,” Gibbs said. White House officials repeatedly denied that there was any new positioning on the provision, accusing the media of fabricating developments.

Basically, this is the Pryor technique at work in the White House. Our lying eyes and ears are not to be believed. What we saw and heard over the weekend were mere apparitions.

Anyone doing research on this issue can find dozens of occasions when President Obama proclaimed universal coverage as a core principle of health care reform. And, of course, it is and always has been. That is what this fight is about. There are 47 million people in this country without health insurance and not getting the medical attention they need. We are no more fixated on universal coverage than anti-war advocates are fixated on peace. Universal coverage is the centerpiece of reform. Once upon a time, the president was adamant that it was. Now that the GOP and neo-Dems are pushing their own agenda, he is backing away from that commitment.

We can only hope that eventually the president and his staff start believing their own eyes and ears and take note of the millions of people – including leaders in his own party – who are counting on him to bring us real change, not doublespeak and backtracking.

Obama could use Truman’s backbone.

With universal health insurance now in tatters, withdrawn today as a serious component of President Obama’s prescription for health care reform, it is fair to say that Obama reached his Waterloo and – as the Far Right predicted — beat a hasty, shameful retreat.

I don’t know of a president who has sold out his core constituencies so quickly — almost offhandedly. In eight short months, Obama as piled up the disappointments, all of them important  issues to the people who elected him.

Today it was universal health care. Before that it was foot-dragging on closing Guantanamo,  a refusal to investigate Bush-era rights violations, dumping legislation to help homeowners renegotiate their loans, getting us deeper into an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, not to mention his lackluster support for gay rights and the legalization of marijuana.

The question arises: what does this president stand for?

The answer is: everything. He stands and takes whatever punches the GOP and the Far Right throw at him. Instead of fighting back, he caves. And caves. And caves.

Universal health care, now known as the public option, has been a core principle of health care reform going back to the days of Harry Truman. We did not elect Obama to implement insurance reform, although that must necessarily be a part of health care reform. What we care about is providing health insurance to the 47 million Americans who don’t have any. Obama is now saying that left and right are “fixated” on the public option. We are no more fixated on universal coverage than anti-war advocates are fixated on peace.

As Alan Colmes put it, “When are Democrats going to stop letting Republicans railroad them?” Of course, the shame of it all is that the main Democrat getting railroaded is Barack Obama.

Although some argue that caving in to Republicans is in the Democrats’ DNA, Harry “Give ‘Em Hell” Truman was one Democrat who had a backbone and stood up for what he believed in.

Case in point: Just after World War Two the U.S. was threatened with a number of serious national strikes by steel workers, coal miners, and others.  As a Democrat, Truman’s sympathies were certainly with the unions, but he could not sit back and let them bring the country to a standstill no matter how powerful or influential they were.

In 1946 the last straw for Truman was a threatened strike by railroad workers. Truman and the White House worked hard to get the two sides to agree to a contract, but to no avail. Truman then went before Congress to say that any railroad worker who went on strike would be drafted into the Army. While many doubted that such an act would actually be constitutional, Truman was ready to issue such orders.

Simply by holding firm, using his backbone instead of caving into the unions, the strike was averted. In fact, the unions gave in just as Truman was delivering his speech to Congress.

Many point to Franklin Roosevelt as a model for Obama to follow. A better one, I think, is Truman. If Obama could stick up for his convictions and principles with the same tenacity and courage as Truman, the public option — covering 47 million uninsured Americans — would still be in play.

Of course, all this assumes that Obama truly has convictions and principles. Today’s capitulation to conservatives makes me wonder.

21,200 miles later, Hillary comes home after African tour.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, walksa with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Monrovia, Liberia Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. Clinton offered strong support Thursday for embattled President Sirleaf. Liberia is the sixth leg of Clinton's seven-nation tour of Africa aimed at promoting democracy and development.(AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)

Hillary Clinton has completed an arduous 21,200 mile, 11-day, seven-country tour of Africa. With the exception of an embarrassing over-reaction to a town hall question that was misinterpreted to be about her husband, Bill Clinton, by all measures her trip was an unqualified success.

In another international test, Hillary has demonstrated her intelligence, a sensitivity to international concerns, and a fierce determination to chance perceptions of the U.S. and its foreign policy.

Here’s a breakdown of her trip country-by-country from Christian Science Monitor contributor, Tracey D. Samuelson:

From massive oil-producing Nigeria to the tiny island-nation of Cape Verde, Secretary Clinton’s trip highlighted the many sides of the diverse continent. Her seven-country tour was as much about securing US interests in resource-heavy lands as it was about supporting African development. Following are summaries of her visit in each country:

Kenya

A primary goal of Clinton’s 11-day trip was to reiterate the message of transparent and corruption-free governance that President Obama urged during his trip to Ghana last month. This reiteration began at the first stop, Kenya.

Indeed, the birthplace of Mr. Obama’s father was not spared criticism for its shortcomings. “The absence of strong and democratic institutions has permitted ongoing corruption, impunity, politically motivated violence, human rights abuses, lack of respect for the rule of law,” Clinton said at a news conference after meeting with President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Discussions also included trade, agricultural development, and the instability of neighboring Somalia. In addition, Clinton met with Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, president of Somalia’s transitional government, to offer reassurance of US support.

South Africa

Clinton’s time in South Africa, a country often known as the continent’s economic powerhouse, focused on strengthening relations that had soured and stalled during the administrations of former Presidents George W. Bush and Thabo Mbeki.

“In both countries, there are two new administrations which are taking that relationship a level higher,” South African President Jacob Zuma said after meeting with Clinton.

Clinton also stressed that South Africa should be a leader for the continent and toured an HIV/AIDS clinic outside of Johannesburg that is partially funded by the United States.

Angola

Oil-rich Angola is strategically attractive to the US. Already, Angola supplies America with 7 percent of its oil imports. Angola’s worldwide oil revenues account for approximately 85 percent of its gross domestic product.

Here, Clinton pressed for strong democratic institutions and governmental transparency, pushing President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to hold the country’s first presidential elections since 1992. Mr. dos Santos agreed to elections “in a timely manner,” according to Clinton.

Clinton also stressed the need for Angola to redevelop its once-productive agricultural industry. And she signed an agreement that provides the country with $17 million to combat HIV/AIDS and prevent new infections. It was one of only two pledges for new aid announced on the trip.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Traveling to Goma, a conflict-ridden provincial capital, Clinton focused on the crimes against women that have become widespread in this country and in neighboring Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Since war broke out 12 years ago, 200,000 women and girls have been raped in Congo, the United Nations estimates. In “very frank” discussions with President Joseph Kabila, Clinton said, she “made the point that these crimes, no matter who commits them, must be prosecuted and punished.”

To Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, she added at a dinner in her honor, “There must be an end to widespread financial corruption and abuses of human rights and women’s rights.”

Clinton also spoke out against “conflict minerals” mined in the country and announced that the US will provide more than $17 million in new funding to prevent and respond to gender and sexual violence here.

Nigeria

“Nigeria is at a crossroads,” Clinton said at a town-hall-style meeting in the capital, Abuja. She stressed the need for Africa’s largest country – and one of its most corrupt – to implement democratic reforms.

Before an audience of civil activists in Abuja, she cited a recent World Bank report that said Nigeria has lost more than $300 billion to corruption and mismanagement over three decades. And, Clinton said, the “lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embrace violence and reject the authority of the state.”

Clinton and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe, announced a new binational commission that, among other things, will aim to improve the stability of the oil-rich Niger delta.

The US supports Nigeria’s inclusion in the Group of 20, Clinton also said, but the country first has to tackle its corruption problems, she added.

Liberia

At a luncheon to honor the continent’s only female president, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Clinton said, “I will admit it. It’s not diplomatic, but I happen to be a fan and a friend of your president.”

Thousands lined the streets to greet Clinton in the warmest reception of all her African sojourns.

Despite a seven-year civil war, Liberia has been politically and economically stable since about 2005.

But Clinton did not shy away from the work Liberia has yet to do.

“Liberian people still need jobs, electricity, housing, and education,” Clinton said before a joint session of the Liberian National Legislature. “Law enforcement is still inadequate, and after years of war and lawlessness, institutions have been left crippled.”

She also noted the need for budgetary oversight and increased governmental transparency.

But she also said, “In just three years, there are encouraging signs of progress.”

Cape Verde

That Clinton included Cape Verde, a palm-speckled archipelago and refueling stop for long-distance flights, was a surprise to many.

But it was one last opportunity for her to highlight an example of good governance in Africa, after strong critiques of corruption in many of her previous stops.

“Few places … demonstrate the promise of Africa better than Cape Verde,” Clinton said in a news conference before returning to Washington.