It's as if the eight years of Bush/Cheney, with its lockstep Republican Congressional goons, its relentless intimidation and marginalization of anyone to the left of the John Birch Society, its proactive (and successful) effort to target Democrats for prosecution by hand-picked Attorneys-General - it's as if all of that - and so much more - never happened.I'd have to agree, back on Tuesday I said that :
Democratic leadership once again failed to perceive political reality as it is in 21st century America: The Republican Party is dominated by fascists who will do anything, anything at all, to undermine what's left of this country's democracy after the successful Bush/Cheney assault on it. After all, this is a party that used the Department of Homeland Security to hunt down Democrats when they bolted from Texas in order to avoid committing political suicide. After all, this is a party that aggressively opposes the regulation of computerized voting machines, voting machines manufactured by none other than prominent members of their own party.
Shutting down town hall meetings is precisely the kind of tactic these characters love, they spend night and day meticulously planning them, and get well-paid to boot. Shame on Democrats for not seeing these latest Republican riots coming.
The GOP on the other hand is treating this fight as what it is: an existential battle. They know that if robust health care reform passes, they are beyond toast. Democrats will run the show for a generation. They are pulling out all the stops on the attacks and the pressure. To use a crappy sports metaphor, they want the win more.Tristero however does bring up a much larger point: how could the Dems possibly have been caught flat-footed by this? The GOP has been telegraphing an August assault for weeks, if not months now, and even if somehow the Dems had overlooked that, Tristero's point about the preceding eight years certainly stands. I'll go even further...the Dems absolutely had to know that the 1993-1994 Hillarycare playbook was prima facie evidence that the GOP was willing to do whatever it takes to stop health care again this time around.Team Obama has gotten hamstrung here in the last three days. Multiple Democrats have been jumped at appearances. The GOP telegraphed the plan well in advance. So far it's looking like the Dems don't have much of a "boots on the ground" response. I am hoping this changes and fast.
The best organized grassroots political machine ever conceived rolled over the landscape last fall. Where is it now?
And still they stood there and watched the punch incoming, one telegraphed from 15 years ago. it's not like you couldn't have asked Hillary or Bill, clearly they're around. Hell, half the damn Obama administration is Clinton retreads from back then. Leon Panetta, Larry Summers, even Eric Holder...c'mon. Absolutely, without a doubt, you knew the plan was the GOP was going to try to delay this through the August recess and then spend that month sending in the crazies.
One almost has to question the magnitude of the effort of the Democrats behind the push for health care. Obama knew exactly how to campaign and win 12-18 months ago. But the same outfit seemingly has no clue what to do against the GOP here, other than "Hey, look at the crazies!" The Village is happy to report on the story that the GOP wants. They're in control of the news cycle and Team Obama looks downright silly after just a week or so.
If you want health care reform, we have to fight for it. Obama's not doing that.
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I think right now the WH is using this time to reshuffle their August campaign (or at least I hope so). Leading up to, and coming to a head during, the Obama presser the other week media coverage had been TERRIBLE. The press was reporting negatively on the Obama "failure to pass health care" continuously, and ignoring facts like 3/5 committees bringing forth bills with a public option (now 4/5) or the coalition of doctor, nurse, hospital, and pharmaceutical groups that had (however tentatively) backed reform. When Reid came up on Thursday and said that legislation wouldn't pass until after the recess that effectively killed any Obama push during the current session.
So, the WH pulled back on their big push. What happens next? I've already covered the 4 steps I think they need to take, but in the mean time we have seen an increase in pro-reform targeting (on Blue Dogs, moderate Senators, etc) from 3rd parties that seems to be having an effect due to its local nature. The real problem is that Congress and the media live in the Village bubble, and are too busy echoing one another's storylines that it is difficult to track where reform actually stands. The bubble also made this thing more personal than I think Congress expected, and I would add that the WH was caught off guard (likely because their main tools are canvasing, the bully pulpit, and ads and not town halls whatever other good they might offer).
The breaking up of town halls IS a very typical right wing tactic. It obviously isn't about convincing anyone anything, it is about screaming your disagreements at the expense of finding a happy medium and to win the tactical battle (perception of disagreement with reform) rather than some long term goal (actually implementing good health care that helps curb long term costs, what the GOP supposedly is stopping the current efforts in order to achieve).
I give the WH a week before they make another push, what will matter most is what the lead meme is in the week prior to the end of the recess this is all just minor skirmishing at this point.
And, because it's a slow day at work, I would like to add that missed in all this focus on Washington and tactics is the fact that most polls still show that Republicans are the least trusted when it comes to reforming the health care system. And, even as people disprove of the job he is doing (largely for the reasons we have been talking about, aka not getting it "done"), something like 60% of Americans believe that Obama is working for positive changes and that he is the best fit person to take on health care reform. He needs to turn on the mic people have given him, and do it in a way that demands more from congress while laying out a clear plan that people can (and this is just a guess that they will) agree with. Support appears low in polls because people don't even know what is on the table, 5 committees and 4 bills... it's no surprise they are confused and frustrated with the current process.
What can I say Paul, you're right once again on both counts. The Village is beating Obama up here, and the President himself is the guy who needs to get his message out and loudly.
Obama's speech in Elkhart, IN yesterday went all but ignored. He's supposed to be in Max Baucus's hometown in Montana next week. I'm hoping next week we see the strong Obama, because this week has been butt ugly.
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