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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Whitebeard who wrote (320015)	8/16/2009 11:17:16 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	9 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793955

He doesn't know any average Americans. Average American academics, yes, but that's as far as it goes. The Gang of Six will now try to lead a compromise. I think Carol Platt Liebau, who was one year behind Obama in Harvard Law, has it right: Obama has lived his whole life in places where conservatives were a fringe groups. He considers himself "non-partisan" because he was polite to those fringe conservatives (which Carol appreciated, being one of those fringe conservatives at Harvard Law). However, it has never dawned on Obama that he might find himself in a situation where he would have to make a serious compromise with the ideas of those no-longer-fringe conservatives. It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that conservatives really represent somewhat MORE Americans than liberals do, if polls are to be believed. At any rate, the opposition to 'the government option' seems to have caught him totally flat footed. He was prepared for 'special interest' opposition and tried to buy it off. But not popular opposition. I think this is an essential difference between Obama and Bill Clinton. Clinton came up in Arkansas and always understood that conservatives were real and he had to deal with them - trick'em, charm'em, run 'em down, triangulate, steal their ideas, or if all else failed, compromise - but he knew they were there. I don't think Obama really believes it yet. Something in him just KNOWS that nearly everybody supports single payer health care. Despite the evidence otherwise.