See The Hill for details, " 'One Way or Another,' Obama Guarantees Reform." Also, the New York Times, "Obama Still Optimistic on Health Care Overhaul."
Meanwhile, leftists are talking as though a defeat on health care would be Obama's Waterloo. ABC News has this, "Obama Ally: Dem Majority Is History If Health Reform Fails." And Mike Soraghan has this, "Left Flexes Muscles on Healthcare Reform."
Plus, Hammering Jane Hamsher gets ugly in, "If Progressive Members of the House Think We’ll Accept Co-Ops As Public Plan, Think Again." To which, William Jacobson responds, "Left-Wing Attack On Obama's 'Health Care Toenail Clippings'." (Via Memeorandum.)
And although he bugs the hell out of me, I love the title of John Avlon's piece, "The Coming Liberal Suicide":
Liberals are in deep denial about the source of the President’s falling poll numbers during this summer’s healthcare debate. They think the problem—perceptions of arrogant over-reaching liberalism—is the cure. It’s the same self-serving mistake that the extremes always make.Actually, the "fearmongering" is a grassroots political tide of conservative opposition that rightly smells blood. After Obama's health care debacle, look for good things coming on the right of the spectrum. See also, Jay Cost, "Amateur Hour at the White House."
President Obama needs to depolarize the health care debate. He got off-message because he got off-center. Embracing a bipartisan bill that replaces the public-option with a non-profit co-op will not “muddy” the debate but help clarify it. It will not be a retreat but a way forward.
Lyndon Johnson once joked that “the difference between liberals and cannibals is that cannibals don’t eat their friends and family members.” In half-century long history of failed healthcare reforms from Harry Truman on down, liberal cannibalism has been as much to blame for defeats as fear-mongering from the far-right.
5 comments:
IT'S INSANE FOR OBAMA TO BLAME THE GOP WHEN HE HAS ENOUGH DEMS TO PASS IT WITHOUT THE GOP.
THE FACT IS THAT A MAJORTIY OF AMERICANS DON'T WANT OBAMACARE AND IF CONGRESS PASSES IT THEN THE PEOPLE WILL SEND A BUNCH OF NEW FOLKS THERE AND MOST OF THE NEW FOLKS WILL BE GOP.
OBAMA PAINTED HIMSELF AND HIS PARTY INTO THIS CORNER.
IF HE HAD BEEN WILLING TO SOMETHING SMALL AND BIPARTISAN - LIKE MORE CO-OPS AND VOUCHERS AND INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND TORT REFORM AND EXTENDING THE TAX BENEFITS TO FAMILIES, THEN HE'D A BEEN A HERO.
SO OBAMA AND THE DEMS DESERVE TO SUFFER THE RESULTS.
When the battle is done, can we banish Obama to Elba, or St. Helena, or some other island from which he cannot be voted?
Smerconish (my local Big Talker is his home base) is not a conservative any more. He is a sniveling self serving lawyer whose goal is to get a slot on CNN or MSNBC, where he occasionally guests panels. He's so full of himself, he believes he is capable of knowing Obama's mindset, he believed him when during the election Obama promised to go after OBL. His listenership is slipping daily (since his endorsement of Obama last summer) from conservatives, but growing with liberals. Just so no one confuses him with a conservative.
FYI, HIS LETTER TO HIS LISTENERS
By Michael Smerconish
I've decided.
My conclusion comes after reading the candidates' memoirs and campaign platforms, attending both party conventions, interviewing both men multiple times, and watching all primary and general-election debates.
John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I'm voting for a Democrat for president. I may have been an
appointee in the George H.W. Bush administration, and master of ceremonies for George W. Bush in 2004, but last Saturday I stood amid the crowd at an Obama event in North Philadelphia.
Five considerations have moved me:
Terrorism. The candidates disagree as to where to prosecute the war against Islamic fundamentalists. Barack Obama is correct in saying the front line in that battle is not Iraq, it's the Afghan-Pakistan border. Osama bin Laden crossed that border from Tora Bora in December 2001, and we stopped pursuit.
The Bush administration outsourced the hunt for bin Laden and instead
invaded Iraq.
No one in Iraq caused the death of 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Our invasion was based on a false predicate, so we have no business being there, regardless of whether the surge is working. Our focus must be the tribal-ruled FATA
region in Pakistan. Only recently has our military engaged al-Qaeda there in operations that mirror those Obama was ridiculed for recommending in August 2007.
Last spring, Obama told me: "It's not that I was opposed to war [in Iraq]. It's that I felt we had a war that we had not finished." Even Sen. Joe Lieberman conceded to me last Friday that "the headquarters of our opposition, our enemies today" is the FATA.
Economy. We face economic problems that are incomprehensible to most
Americans, certainly they are to me. This is a time to covet intellect, and that begins at the top. Jack Bogle, the legendary founder of the Vanguard Group, told me recently that McCain's assertion that the fundamentals of the economy were "strong" was the "stupidest statement of 2008." In light of the unprecedented volatility in the market, who can dispute Bogle's characterization and the lack of understanding that McCain's assessment portends?
VP. I opined here that Sarah Palin demonstrated the capacity to be president in her speech to the Republican convention. Sadly, there has been no further
exhibition of her abilities, and she remains an unknown quantity. We are left questioning the judgment of a candidate who bypassed his reported preferred choices, Lieberman and former Gov. Tom Ridge, and instead yielded
to the whims of the periphery of his party. With two wars and a crumbling economy, Palin is too big of a risk to be a heartbeat away from a presidency held by a 72-year-old man who has battled melanoma. Advantage Joe Biden.
continued here:
Opportunity. In a speech delivered on Father's Day, Obama lamented that too many fathers are missing from the lives of too many children and mothers.
Look no further than Philadelphia for proof that the nation has a fatherhood problem at the root of its firearms crisis. And no demographic is affected by this confluence of factors like the black community. Among the many
elements needed to address this crisis are role models,individuals whom urban youth can aspire to emulate. Little more than a year ago, Charles Barkley told me: "I want young black kids to see Barack on television every day. . . . We need to see more blacks who are intelligent, articulate, and who carry themselves with great dignity." Obama can be that man.
Hope. Wednesday morning will come and an Obama presidency holds the greatest chance for unifying us here at home and restoring our prestige around the globe. The campaigns have foretold the kind of presidency we can expect from
each candidate. Last Friday in Lakeville, Minn., McCain himself had to explain to a supporter who was "scared" of an Obama presidency that those fears were unfounded. Another told McCain that Obama was untrustworthy
because he is an "Arab." Those exchanges were a predictable byproduct of ads against Obama featuring tag lines such as "Too Risky for America "and
"Dangerous," and a failure to rein in individuals at McCain events who
highlighted Obama's middle name, all against a background of Internet lore.
Last Saturday at Progress Plaza, I heard Obama say: "The American people aren't looking for somebody to divide this country; the American people are looking for someone to lead this country."
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