“I have not said that I was a single-payer supporter because frankly we historically have had a employer-based system in this country with private insurers.”

OBAMA 2007: “My commitment is to make sure that we’ve got universal health care for all Americans by the end of my first term as president. I would hope that we can set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out.”

OBAMA 2003: “I happen to be a proponent of single-payer, universal health care plan.”

“I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, is spending 14% — 14% of its gross national product on health care — cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim’s talking about when he says, “Everybody in, nobody out,” a single payer health care plan, universal health care plan. That’s what I’d like to see but, as all of you know –”

The Wall Street Journal‘s Washington Wire, August 19, 2008: “Obama Touts Single-Payer System for Health Care”:

Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader coverage evolves over time.

“If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system,” Obama told some 1,800 people at a town-hall style meeting on the economy.

A “Fact Check“, from the Obama campaign itself, that also confirms Barack Obama’s intent to eliminate private insurance coverage. The post is dated January 21, 2008, the height of Obama’s primary fight with Hillary Clinton, and begins:

Rhetoric: “Today, he opposes single payer health care, and attacks Sen. Clinton for proposing a plan that covers everyone”

Reality: Obama Has Consistently Said That If We Were Starting From Scratch, He Would Support A Single Payer System, But Now We Need To Build On The System We Have

Later in the post, the Obama campaign offers up this quote from Obama himself to demonstrate Obama’s true support for single payer health care:

“If I were designing a system from scratch I would probably set up a single-payer system…But we’re not designing a system from scratch…And when we had a health care forum before I set up my health care plan here in Iowa there was a lot of resistance to a single-payer system. So what I believe is we should set up a series of choices….Over time it may be that we end up transitioning to such a system.”

Something smelled very “fishy” at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire high-school. Obama encountered a friendly, cheering crowd, as if at a campaign stop. While there were crowds of protesters outside, few seemed to make it inside.

He spoke for almost 20 minutes before questions. After several friendly questions, he urged people with tougher ones to step up. He took nine questions in total. It was obvious the audience was hand-picked to avoid a “Town-Hell” like the one’s encounter by Obama clones around the country.

Obama “town halls” consist of long speeches, falsifications and no questions from the skeptical. An Obama town hall is more like Obama Town Bull. Indeed!