Played For A Fool

If Richard Wolffe's account of the health care battle is accurate, Obama really does need to fire his entire brain trust.  Sen. Chuck Grassley showed his hand early:

Just before [Grassley] returned to Iowa, he met with [Nancy] DeParle for another strategy session.
"If we do everything and resolve all the policy issues the way you want, with no public plan, do you think you'll be able to support the bill?"

Grassley looked away. "I don't know."

Grassley went to the Oval Office for a similar conversation with the president and his fellow Republican and Democratic negotiators. He asked Obama to say publicly that he would sign a bill without a public option of a government-run plan. Grassley believed this would be a reasonable, minimal demonstration of Obama's desire for a bipartisan deal. But the president declined to confront his own party base so explicitly. Obama asked Grassley the same question DeParle had posed: With every concession he wanted, could he support the bill?

"Probably not."

"Why not?" asked an exasperated Obama.

"Because I'd have to have a number of Republicans," said Grassley. "I'm not going to be the third of three Republicans. I've defined a bipartisan bill as broad-based support."

To recap, Chuck Grassley was never going to vote for health care reform, ever.  Obama spent months chasing Grassley's vote anyway.  The rest of the President's agenda fell by the wayside.  Obama let himself get played by the Republicans...and Obama's advisers let Obama get played too.  Literally, maybe a third of America is happy with the bill.  I'm not.  It could be better.  Knowing Obama wasted time pretending the GOP was ever going to accept the bill makes me all the more angry.

For God's sakes, man.  Wake up.  They want to expunge you from history.  There's no compromising with that.