The Kroog Versus Rahmbo

Paul Krugman's opinion of Rahm Emmanuel is not especially glowing right now, but the bigger point is that President Obama has to lead like the man we saw yesterday is capable of doing.

Ezra Klein finds Rahm Emanuel’s apparent willingness to let health reform slide into the indefinite future very depressing. So do I. And it’s not just health reform that will die under this approach — it’s the road to a caretaker presidency.

It’s all very well to say “we’re going to focus on job creation”. But what does that mean? At this point, no major economic programs have any chance of getting passed. Think of it this way: a year ago the question was whether the stimulus would be $700 billion or $1.2 trillion, now we’re talking about $30 billion jobs tax credits.

Maybe financial reform will happen, or at least set up a “teachable moment” battle with the GOP. But by letting health reform slide, the administration is abandoning one really big policy initiative that is just inches from happening. Let this go, and there’s likely to be no achievements worth remembering.

But don’t blame Rahm Emanuel; this is about the president. After Massachusetts, Democrats were looking for leadership; they didn’t get it. Ten days later, nobody is sure what Obama intends to do, and his aides are giving conflicting readings. It’s as if Obama checked out.

Look, Obama is a terrific speaker and a very smart guy. He really showed up the Republicans in the now-famous give-and-take. But we knew that. What’s now in question isn’t his ability to talk, it’s his ability to lead.

And while the one major thing I agree with both the Firebaggers and Krugman on is that Rahm Emmanuel is a real big damn problem right now, Obama is still the man who's payin' the cost to be the boss.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.  What is needed now is to turn the energy of yesterday's Question Time into actual policy.  Obama has now turned around the narrative.  He's stanched the blood flow and gotten the ear of progressives back.  But now he has to deliver, and that starts with Rahm not fouling up the message and allowing the Senate to soft-pedal health care reform, and it certainly means we need to be well the hell past the Snowe Job stage.