As has been so often said here, President Obama never had his own plan. Was that a mistake?

[timeforpeace]

It was his biggest campaign issue. Why did he show up without a plan, without legislation to give Congress? Was this the proverbial coming-to-a-gunfight-with-a-knife (or totally disarmed) scenario?

[tabatha]

1. Remember how the Clintons did it behind closed doors, and it failed.

I think Obama wanted it to be open and transparent, and involve as many people as possible.

I still think that Obama will get it done properly.

[DJ13]

2. He played it too safe

No plan = no blame if it went to hell.

I've never understood why the most daring campaigners always become the most cautious politicians after they've won.

[WeDidIt]

5. The problem is, he's the president

He gets all the blame now.

And rightly sio.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Obama has a gift .....

...... he is incredibly charming and disarming and likable. That causes people to see in him things they wish for. I am guilty of this, myself, having ascribed to him my own wishful thoughts. He campaigned on "health care reform" without ever defining what that was. In the absence of that definition, everyone made assumptions. Most of them were wrong; that applies to both his supporters and his opponents.

In the absence of fact, the debate had to be framed. It was framed by those with the most volume.

It is still too early to know who will win. This should not be the case. With his party in control of everything, he should be winning in a walk-away.

[baseballguy2001]

6. no plan = failure

Nobody knows to this day what the president wants for reform. If you don't say what you want, that leaves it to others. Is he for a 'robust' public option or not? Single payer? Nobody can say what exactly he wants, and that is a problem. I think the reason why he has not said what he wants is because then that is a negotiating point. It's over. The huge reform effort has been given a lethal body blow.

[DFW]

4. I think his intent was nobler in the beginning

I think his idea was more in the vein of "let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of though contend," and
then forgot that when the contending was done, he either was supposed to pick one or make up a composite of the best
aspects of the ones he was presented with. "None of the above," or "let me think about it" were not options.

It is time--high time--he laid out exactly what he has in mind. Not just the goals--we all have the same goals: health
insurance and guaranteed health care for all. If you are an American citizen, then you should NOT have to fear being refused
treatment or medication. Period.

I don't care how you get there. Just get there. Then get out there, and use those amazing rhetorical skills that got you
the White House and Democratic majorities in Congress and make them BELIEVE that this is the right thing to do. Members
of Congress will not be stood up against a wall and shot if they vote for their constituencies instead of the phramceutical
industry. They will lose some contributions, and some them will lose their seats in Congress because of it. But they will
be heroes for having done the right thing, and serious come-back candidates when people realize that. Think of the numbers.
If we have 47 million uninsured, it's a good bet in this crazy country of ours that at least a third of them STILL voted
Republican. If a third of that third vote Democratic next time, that's still over 5 MILLION votes.

I wouldn't even begrudge President Obama if he prefaced some major speech on the subject with "I have a dream here this
afternoon." Go ahead and steal the line--as long as it's still true.

[TiredOldMan]

7. He Meant Well

I think he meant well, but he needs to start acting like he is the LEADER of our nation and not still on the campaign trail. He should have put together a proposed plan and then got Congress working on changes they saw as necessary. It would have sped things up a lot and it would have been done before the recess they are now in.

Instead we are losing ground on this issue as each day goes by.