Mike Allen at Politico says Obama will hedge on the public option tonight instead.
Cammy Paglia at Salon says either way, it's too late anyway and it doesn't matter, he's done for.
By foolishly trying to reduce all objections to healthcare reform to the malevolence of obstructionist Republicans, Democrats have managed to destroy the national coalition that elected Obama and that is unlikely to be repaired. If Obama fails to win reelection, let the blame be first laid at the door of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who at a pivotal point threw gasoline on the flames by comparing angry American citizens to Nazis. It is theoretically possible that Obama could turn the situation around with a strong speech on healthcare to Congress this week, but after a summer of grisly hemorrhaging, too much damage has been done. At this point, Democrats' main hope for the 2012 presidential election is that Republicans nominate another hopelessly feeble candidate. Given the GOP's facility for shooting itself in the foot, that may well happen.I'm increasingly going with option three here. No matter what the President actually says, the Village refs will call it irrelevant. They're already counting the man out of office after eight months.
It'll be a game changer alright, and the Village is all ready to declare it the day the Obama Administration Blew It.
[UPDATE 12:34 PM] Thers at Whiskey Fire lets Paglia have it.
Someone who gets to the Truth of American Sentiment by monitoring talk radio (which is apparently not at all "manipulated"!) "round the clock" is, by definition, a member of the Kook Army. They don't all get gigs at Salon, though. Which they use to serve up very very boring cliches spiced blandly with limp contrarianism. As a bonus there's "so's your mother" authenticity-grubbing superannuated hipster posturing!And this is bad even for Paglia's usual concern trolling.
Whatever. Hippie vulgar libertarians are no more or less irritating than vulgar punk libertarians, or Glenn Reynolds. But what the hell! If you're hell bent on drowning the government, and hence inevitably the nation, you might just as well fill up that tub with an aesthetically pleasant warm pink bubble bath of self-absorbed idiocy, blasting Airplane on the tape deck. It's easier than, say, understanding policy, or even bothering to try to understand policy. Or anything else.Reform is just toooooo haaaaard, sweetie darling.
Yet 56% of people polled, and I'll be damned if I can find it now, said they would like to watch the President's speech. As long as Obama succeeds in getting around the Village obfuscation (and this speech is his best chance to do it) then he can push this bill over the top of the Senate blockade.
ReplyDeleteGetting around the Village obfuscation will be hard, as the Village will immediately begin keeping score the second the President's speech ends.
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