It's Not Entirely Up To Obama

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019478.php


IT'S NOT ENTIRELY UP TO OBAMA.... It's tempting to think that President Obama, with an electoral mandate, reasonably strong approval ratings, and a like-minded Congress, can have any kind of health care reform package he wants. The White House would draw certain lines in the sand -- a bill with no public option, for example, would draw a veto -- and lawmakers would follow his lead.

But Ezra Klein noted yesterday that FDR, Truman, Nixon, Carter, and Clinton all tried to reform health care, and all of them came up short. "{I}t's not a matter of presidential messaging, or toughness, or will, or strategy," Ezra said, adding, "The executive simply has limited power here."

Matt Yglesias agrees.

I know a lot of people on the left who seem to have voted for Barack Obama because they liked his progressive agenda, then gotten excited when Obama won the election because they liked his progressive agenda, then Obama proposed progressive measures to the congress and they were excited, then it turned out that key congressional players like Collin Peterson and Rick Boucher and Max Baucus were less left-wing than Obama so actually legislative outcomes would be considerably less left-wing than Obama's campaign proposal. It's all well and good to be disappointed with this situation but it doesn't make a ton of sense to me to do what a lot of people seem to be doing and becoming disappointed with Obama. <...>

On foreign policy and some other matters the president has tons of discretion and it's a different story. But big-picture domestic legislation in the modern era is controlled by Congress.

And Congress isn't designed to be an especially constructive branch.

There are a whole host of institutional obstacles to health care reform, including a timid congressional majority, a reactionary congressional minority, an easily-misled public, and a media that's reluctant to sort out fact from fiction when outlets aren't just passing along what both sides of an argument have to say.

The president has taken on a daunting challenge, and I hope he realizes what he was getting himself into. But in the bigger picture, while Obama brings some tremendous skills and qualities to the process, what reaches his desk isn't entirely up to him.

-Steve Benen

[BlooInBloo]

1. A good follow up is a commentary on the extremely undemocratic nature of the senate.

[CakeGrrl]

2. Well that's no fun!

Who are some people around here going to blame for a lack of leadership?

:eyes:

[babylonsister]

4. Don't worry, they're on their way. nt

[Merlot]

3. There was NO way the insurance industry would give up their cash cows (us)

with out a long, ugly fight. And the insurance industries own a lot of congress critters and senators.

Obama is up against a lot of entrenched interests, more that we realize. The RW and the mudia (that's media spelled with mud because they make everything clear as mud, and lets face it, their name should be mud anyhow) are also against anything constructive that Obama does.

[TheKentuckian]

5. Eight years of Bush/Cheney has left us with the expectation of the Imperial Presidency

on both sides of the aisle.

BUT...Obama is being excessively weak on how he is handling Grassley, who should be roasting over a slow fire right about now.

[HopeOverFear]

6. I think he's got a thing or two up his sleeve re: Grasshole

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. What might THAT be?

:shrug: BTW I'm not doubting you or the grand chess master, I'm just curious what you think his strategy might be? I personally doubt that Obama would so publicly embrace somebody like Grassley, who just made a fool of himself by lending credence to the whole "death panel" figment but what do you think his "angle" might be?

[HopeOverFear]

8. killing him with kindness, perhaps?

giving him enough rope to hang himself with.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. I can buy that

Good ol' "rope a dope" strategy. Isn't that one of Obama's trademarks? I think that he is letting the opposition exhaust itself with this craziness. Not having a single plan yet could be part of the strategy as well- so that they don't have a single proposal to open fire on and are left to flail away aimlessly at various proposals- real or imagined- instead of a specific plan like Clinton's. Of course, they still refer to health care reform as "Obamacare" even though it strains credulity since he has only articulated a series of proposals/principles and has largely let Congress work on the fine details. It may not seem like much of a strategy or that he is not exhibiting leadership but I think he may just be letting the opposition exhaust itself and overreach (which they seem to be starting to do) in anticipation for a final aggressive push by Obama and Democrats in Congress when they return from their recess. :shrug:

[HopeOverFear]

11. and there ya go

:)

[Cha]

14. According to you and others of a like mind

but I'm going with the President on however he sees fit to handle the repuke from Iowa.

[Orsino]

10. Yes. Obama, as Chief Executive, is the face of health-care reform...

...but the leg work is up to us and Congress. If President Obama "fails," most of the blame belongs to the Congress that failed to enact meaningful legislation, and on the electorate that failed to demand it.

[Karenina]

12. The INFORMED electorate needs to make Congress AFRAID OF THEM

BEFORE the lunatics ramp up enough crazy to scuttle the deal.

Living Wills ARE A GOOD THING!!! They stave off family violence upon the death of a loved one. Americans, in particular, believe in Ba-dup,

FAME! I'M GONNA LIVE FOREVER...

ANYTHING that prompts the discussion of the inevitable IS A GOOD THING.

The FAIL is being propagated and propagandized by THE MEDIA. IT is Obama's and YOUR greatest enemy. Take him out and rape YOU... again.

[grantcart]

13. kick