Cooling Off Period: Hands-Off Obama Leaves Health Care To Hill

Slowing down worked wonders for the health care bill last summer. I'm sure it will be even more effective now.

By "we" does Lanny Davis mean "we Democrats"? That's funny. I didn't know I had enough money to hire him to be on my side.

Actually, now that I think of it, was Lanny the only person TPMDC could call? Come on, Christina.

What exactly is an example of an "element of the package that people agree on"?

The idea that a Republican Senator will vote for cloture on anything even vaguely related to health care is absurd. And in the utterly unbelievable case that something related to health care makes it out of the Senate, it will be worse than the current Senate bill, which the progressive House caucus isn't voting for. Why would the progressive House caucus vote for something worse?

I think I remember this one: "That's not change! It's more of the same!"

The sky is falling.

Aides believe it makes more sense to allow some time to pass and give leadership breathing room to convince their caucus to support the more conservative Senate bill - a plan the administration began advocating for before the polls had even closed Tuesday.

This really is all they know:

Senate - We count, you don't, pass our bill and shut the fuck up.

This is what Rhambama has wanted all along, the clean Senate bill he negotiated in secret with AHIP and PhRMA. This is apparently what they will fight for until the bitter end. They really don't care if they lose half the base. They figure they get enough money from their corporate partners. And votes?

Well they just figure where else are the dirty fucking hippies going to go.

to convince their caucus to support the more conservative Senate bill

We count, you don't, do what I tell you and shut the fuck up.

Whatever...

El Predicto

Year Two: Congress works on job stimulus. Obama takes hands-off approach. After 12 months of Republican obstruction no effective jobs legislation is passed.

Year Three: Congress works on Climate Control Legislation. Obama takes hands-off approach. After 12 months of Republican obstruction no comprehensive Climate Control legislation is passed.

Year Four: Obama spends most of the year on vacation and traveling abroad.

2012: Sarah Palin is elected first woman President.

In a way this is just as well. It is sickening to me to hear members whine about how the president isn’t helping them do a job that they are supposed to be able to do on their own. Russ Feingold and Jim Webb, for instance, a little while back. Do your freaking job, Congress.

It’s ludicrous to watch these babies beg for help.

So it is official, there is nobody in charge of getting Health Care passed. President Obama has moved on, presumably to banking reform. The biggest power of the Presidency is the "bully pulpit", and Obama is too squeamish to use that, it seems.

The R's and billions in cash are opposed to any reforms, so again, banking reform efforts will stall, and eventually fail.

I used to laugh at how nobody knew who the leader of the R's was, was it Limbaugh? Palin? But now, I see that there is no leader of the Democrats either. The Democrats are "in power", but apparently leaderless. Sigh.

Ezra Klein: Dems Rule Governing Out of Order

The negotiations on the Hill are increasingly odd. One of the options is to pass the Senate bill. That's not a perfect option, because it's not as progressive as the House bill. Another option is to pass the Senate bill and put the compromises into a reconciliation rider. House members are worried, however, that that will seem like another backroom deal and give Republicans more ammunition. A third option is to pare the bill back and pass some of its component pieces, like the Medicaid expansion and the insurance reform.

Of all of these, the third option makes the least sense. The Senate bill may not be as progressive as the House bill. But it's a whole lot more progressive than something that's smaller and covers fewer people. As a negotiating strategy, this is a bit like rejecting a job because it pays too little and instead taking a worse job that pays less.
As for kneeling before the Republican argument that passing a package of amendments is a backroom deal, put the negotiations, or whatever they are, on C-SPAN. If the lesson Democrats have taken from this is that they can no longer pass legislation because passing legislation involves people speaking in rooms and agreeing on deals, they've just agreed to rule governance out of order.
I'm starting to think congressional Republicans have mastered the Jedi mind trick.

"Lanny Davis, a former Clinton White House special counsel who now writes a political column for The Hill, told TPMDC the fight among Democrats about the public option allowed Republicans to define the bill this summer."

I know this is irrational, but I'd rather have eight more years George W Bush than have this disingenuous piece of shit Davis anywhere near the halls of power.

Heads need to roll.

"A hands-off approach"??? Compared to WHAT???

Obama is hopelessly weak. After this latest pathetic display of timidity and quitting does this administration really expect to be taken seriously anymore? I'm sure the banks are really worried about making him mad and having to fight him.

They are not cool, they are impotent. Their refusal to lead is astounding. They simply get worse with each passing day. They are a joke, a sad joke on all of us.

I think many of us, myself included, were expecting Obama to have some kind of answer, to have a brilliant strategy to manuever Congress. They even tried to coopt the major players. We questioned many of their tactics but figured they had their eye on the prize.

Apparently they don't have a clue. Strategically, tactically, just so many stupid mistakes. Work for months and months to get Chuck "Death Panels" Grasshole on board just to give the impression of "bipartisanship". How many times do the Republicans have to vote "no" across the board until you get it? They reject you and want to obstruct everything you do. Just mindboggling.

It's so sad how they squandered a tremendous opportunity.

I'm furious with their failures, and with the lack of leadership right now. The "cooling off" period looks like withdrawing from a bad situation you can't fix.

You know, I really wanted to be wrong about Obama and give him a chance. But he's turned out to be even worse than I feared. The guy is NOT a leader. He's basically just a college professor/public speaker. He can say the right words, and probably even believes them, but he doesn't have the passion and force of personality to get done what needs to be done. Why he decided to run for president I'll never know. Mostly ego, no doubt. Now that he thinks the health care debate is hurting him politically, he's making a big noise about getting tough on the banks. But watch - he'll dither and dither and finally cave on that too. Pathetic.

I hope the message that Obama looks excruciatingly weak is getting through to the White House. I would much rather try and lose and blame the GOP for obstruction and let the betrayers hang in the wind on their own then not show the voters that I did everything I could to enact legislation that I said was essential for the country. He looks insincere, untrustworthy and weak.

So.... if I photocopy my butt, mail it to the WH and then renounce my citizenship... where do I get deported to? Anywhere good? I might settle for Haiti... My luck I'd get sent to Gitmo or Bagram or some craphole prison in Poland.

Oh well, I'll put my head down and be a good little worker. Drink of water boss?

Maybe he put the health care bill in motion and it's passing itself.

A surreal privelege Obama has to have legislation pass itself in a hands off fashion. More of this to arrive later from Barack Obama and Harry Reid. Harry Reid is the super hero people have been waiting for since the 1800's.

Yeah, speaking of the 1800s, that's where the Supreme Court and the GOP are working very hard to send us.

What we're witnessing is truly historic in American and perhaps world history: the wholesale and entirely voluntary abdication of a major political party from power in a democracy at a time when it holds a decided majority in the elected bodies of government. The Democratic Party, from Obama down to the lowliest Representative in the House, has completely collapsed in psychological terms. It is exactly the same thing as the loser in a springtime struggle for mating rights and position in a pack of wolves; the loser goes to the ground, belly up, tail tucked tightly between the legs, urinating submissively in a desperate attempt to ward off any further attacks from the dominant male. The Party will continue to exist for a good number of years yet, but as a force to be reckoned with in American life, it is spent, done, finished, and content to be so. There is absolutely no reason for anybody to work for or contribute to any Democrat, and the only reason to vote for a Democrat is to simply delay the inevitable transformation to single party rule by the kleptocracy known as the Republican Party, with The News Corporation as the propaganda arm.

I'm giving him until Tuesday's SOTU on this. I'd like to think he's letting things settle down and will come out strongly for getting a bill done quickly. If this is the strategy, it could work nicely since people will be wondering what his position is on HCR and might be more likely to tune in, thus giving his statement greater impact. He could use the speech as a chance to rally support at a key moment. It might be wishful thinking on my part, but it's only a few days away, so I'm comfortable indulging in the illusion. Still calling my Rep in the meantime...

Reconciliation and single-payer is the only path to successful health care reform. Anything else is a cop-out to the dreaded "centrists"

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