Obama: (from the 2003 AFL-CIO Civil, Human and Women's Right conferecnce):

"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer, universal healthcare plan...that's what I'd like to see...but, as all of you know, we may not get there immediately because first - we gotta take back the White House and we gotta take back the Senate and we gotta take back the House.."

I guess it depends on what you mean by the word "immediately".
I don't see the word "public", "option", "trigger" or "co-op" in that statement. It's amazing what getting elected President can do to ones former beliefs.

I hope that my distrust of Rahm Emanuel is baseless. So far Rahm has cone nothing to engender his reliability.

When the folks posting comments here know more about what President Obama needs to do to survive politically, than does Rahm Emanuel... that President dude's in trouble.

Lest we forget, Rahm was the political guru of the Democratic Party, and (contrary to Beltway wisdom) his choices didn't always work out well, for various reasons. So now he's the "Karl Rove" of the Obama Administration. In his dreams.

His m.o. is still "stroke the corporations and slap the Lefties". Meanwhile, the Lefties have never been wrong yet, and the much-ballyhooed "center" in America seems to have followed the Left (contrary to Beltway wisdom... you beginning to sense a pattern, here?*). And the corporations? Well, for example, how many deals does Rahm want to cut with insurance companies (read: Republicans), before he realizes he's just gonna get fucked, yet again?

So, submitted for your opinion: do you think Rahm has adjusted his take on realpolitik, yet?

Corollary: do you think President Obama has figured out yet that he has not exactly been advised well? Or does he intend on riding the Emanuel Titanic all the way down?

And a rhetorical question: would Howard Dean have not been a more successful White House political adviser?

* = Just in the last few days, I heard yet another pundit on the teevee tell yet another talking head that "America is a center-right nation". He was not called on this, and to date, I have never heard one talking head question how a so-called "center-right" nation could possibly have elected a Black Democrat, whose platform was to pull out of Iraq, and to stand up to the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and ram-through health care reform.

(They just listen to the little birdies in their heads, and let it go right by... I just want to spit.)

ANY health care reform may very well be worse than nothing, FreeRider. Whatever we do now WILL lock in the politics for at least 2 more years, probably 4 or 5. If we get sold to the Insurance Industry in the name of progress, You're the one living in fantasy land thinking we'll get another bite at the "apple" in this term.

We have far more to accomplish that health insurance reform. Success builds on success. If the wieners in Congress BELIEVE a shit sandwich is all they are able to get, the fools will begin discussions about how good it tastes. I, for one am very concerned about our other battles yet to come, especially ENERGY, JOBS and WAR.

As I said earlier, THIS ISSUE, with the lives of thousands of Americans being lost every year; and millions of bankruptcies, fiscal ruination and heart-wrenching compromises sacrificed on the altar of venality and excess profits, is the BEST place to lay down a marker and say, Abandon Hope, all Ye who enter this shithole again.

It's nice to be superior, but I'd rather work my tail off and fail to get a workable plan, this year, than lock in failure for years. Perhaps if we DON'T settle for excrement, we WILL be able to revisit the issue. Thanks for telling me what "liberals" tend to do. One thing they don't do is sit on their tookus and say, "Well, we tried!"

Congress and the administration have 'highly' overestimated our willingness to accept a 'mandate' without a 'true', robust public option 'available to everyone'.

Right now we need to put pressure on both the congress and the administration and remind them that 'we' are not going to be on board with BS health care reform.

Let them know... No public option, No mandate!

It's so sad how cynical you all are. President Obama came into office with 2 wars, the biggest finanical crisis in 70 years, etc., etc. He's only 10 months into his presidency, and just because he's having to compromise more on healthcare than all of us liberals would like, it's all over? You all are writing him off? Have you been in a coma for 8 years? Do you remember how bad things have been, and how much our last president f-ed up this country and the world?

He's just getting started people, and already he's dramatically changed the tone and substance of American foreign relations, protected millions of acres of new wilderness, rolled back hundreds of awful Bush-era policies, and placed some incredibly progressive leaders in charge of federal agencies, White House Departments, etc. As loyal TPM readers, you should know better than to just jump all over the cable news talking point that "nothing is getting done." Building power takes time. The president does not become all-powerful when he is sworn into office. He has to build relationships and power in order to accomplish things.

My guess is that if you're giving up already, you were already quite cynical to begin with... probably one of those people who insisted Obama couldn't win back in 2007... I remember it well! Well, to you cynics, I say this: If we all thought like you, Obama never would have been elected. Either step up and help move the ball down the field, or step aside and keep your mouth shut. Some of us have work to do.

I agree, although I wouldn't describe myself as patient. I am impatient and optimistic. I want to get things done, and I think issues like health care are extremely urgent. But I also think our system of government is flawed, and I certainly don't think one person can change that in 10 months. I voted--and volunteered for over a year--for Obama because I think he's our (liberals' and progressives') best hope in a generation or more. I still believe that, and I believe that to give up on him simply because he's not able to achieve EVERYTHING we want in the first quarter of the game is incredibly naive and cynical.

Yglesias made a good point today:

"I think this is a pretty insidious aspect of our political culture. It’s not just that media commentary overemphasizing the president’s ability to shape opinion is inaccurate, it has a really detrimental impact on people’s ability to organize and effect political change. People are strongly encouraged to believe that the key to achieving policy change is to elect a president who’s friendly to their views. Then when that turns out to be insufficient they don’t move on and do additional organizing in House and Senate races. Instead, they tend to become frustrated with the president they worked to elect. But why blame the victim of congressional obstruction rather than the perpetrator? Well, people always seem to find a way to tell themselves, if only the president had fought harder he would have gotten it. He must have lost because he didn’t really care. "

Wow. Just a stunning read through the comments section here. Some of you actually think that "nothing is getting done". Some of you are blaming the POTUS for the slow pace of the legislative process, which is, the last time I checked, the work of the LEGISLATURE. Some of you are even content to say that President Obama hasn't been involved in the process at all. And I'd bet that you have the temerity to refer to yourselves as "Liberals" and "Progressives" in mixed company. I don't believe it, though.

I know plenty of people like you and the only thing liberal about most of them is their mouth. They don't know any more about governing than they do about flying a dirigible, primarily because in real life, i.e. when they're not shouting on the internet, they couldn't get elected captain of the dodgeball team. They only think they're progressive... In reality, the world is always moving on without them, while they complain about the slow pace of change. They don't make good dinner companions, they're lousy lovers, and I don't like sitting too close to them in the movie theater either.