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

To: tbancroft who wrote (320581)	8/21/2009 1:39:31 PM
From: KLP	1 Recommendation Respond to of 794465

Obamacare death watch blogs.dailymail.com The Left has begun acting nervous. Peggy Noonan: “Pull the plug on Obamacare… (I write as if health-care reform or insurance reform or whatever it’s called this week is already a loss, a historic botch, because it is. Even if the White House wins, they lose, because the cost in terms of public trust and faith was too high.) “ Panties dry. Paul Krugman: “On the issue of health care itself, the inspiring figure progressives thought they had elected comes across, far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of ‘bending the curve’ but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama’s explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee.” When all else fails, blame the teleprompter. Robert Reich: “How tough is our president? …Obama’s political advisers are trying to do exactly the reverse — using the president’s personal popularity to sell policies, much as Madison Avenue uses trusted personalities to promote products. Obama’s town meetings have been enormously successful; he’s fielded questions well, and showed himself to be every bit as thoughtful and engaging as he was during the presidential campaign. But the politics of product endorsement aren’t working terribly well nonetheless.” Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan would be much better endorsers. What am I saying? Joe Biden — Barney to Obama’s Fred — could do a better job. Boston Globe: “President Obama’s campaign for the White House was widely hailed for its ability to stick to a script. But as prospects for the passage of health care reform become murkier, and a backlash among liberal Democrats becomes louder, even some of Obama’s strongest supporters are suggesting that his discipline has slipped.” This month it tanks, next month the blame game. Well, September is a little early in Boston. From the same story: “He distracted attention during his own prime-time press conference last month on health care when he stated that Cambridge police acted ’stupidly’ when they arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., which dominated the news for a week. He took several days to directly rebut charges that the health plan included ‘death panels’ that would determine end-of-life care. This week, he and his top aides appeared to waver on the importance of creating a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.’’ The Globe gets no argument from me. Eugene Robinson: “Here’s the least surprising news of the week: Americans are souring on the Democratic Party. The wonder is that it’s taken so long for public opinion to curdle. There’s nothing agreeable about watching a determined attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.” The people have caught on… Froma Harrop: “Democrats should remember that as they go it alone on health care reform. It should be obvious by now that Republicans are bent on sabotage.” Yes, I see, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a whopping 78-seat majority in the House are not enough. As long as one Republican survives, Democrats cannot get a thing done. At least she stopped blaming Bush. Well, maybe not. From the same column: “The Bush administration and Congress had absolutely no thought of paying for the thing — other than borrowing the money and passing the bill onto future generations.” Joan Vennochi: “The Massachusetts experience also shows that with enough time and patience, bipartisan agreement can be reached. But, even in Massachusetts, agreement did not include the ‘public option’ preferred by liberals.” Bipartisan? Liberals are saying bipartisan again — when they have an overwhelming majority? Gee, this thing must have really, really, really tanked. Popcorn, anyone?