Reply #23: 4th time I've seen this article posted today [View All]

[dccrossman]

Some of the others have had more "exciting" threads, but it all seems to be the same.

In my opinion, given that it is speculation, it is possible that a speech at the beginning of the summer would have made a difference, but there really is no sure way to tell, as Rich admits in the article. Possibly, he could have moved Democratic Senators to do their jobs more quickly, but I still doubt we could have had a final bill by August.

Having said that, I think, as has been postulated elsewhere, that Obama's team was playing by looking back at the Clinton playbook. They saw the upfront bill from the administration that they then tried to "force" through Congress. (Revisionist history in full swing.) So, they went to the opposite extreme, though they might argue that the vague comments and speeches that have been coming out since April should be counted.

If you look at the strategy of Obama throughout the campaign, he never came out as hard and as fast as we wanted. Somehow it worked out for them. I guess its a question of who you are appealing to (or who you need to appeal to).

I don't know that I fully agree with Rich that the "damage has been done". He's over-dramatizing to some extent there, given that polls still trust Obama over Congress on Health Care and still overwhelmingly support a Public Option.

I think there's a question there on whether the idiocy displayed will hurt the (R)'s in the long term, given that Newt and Laura Bush came out and called the extremists on the school speech. Then all of the foolishness displayed in DC on the 12th. I don't think that Independents respond to that mess. I think it turns them off. Long term, in the political sense here, being 2010. All expectations are being set that we'll lose a lot ground in the mid-terms. We the craziness of this summer (likely to be pushed by Fox all the way through next summer), be enough to keep Independents leaning (D)? Impossible to tell right now. Something that be called Health Care Reform, and believed, will need to pass.

On my own, I'd like Medicare to be made available to all and all Congress critters forced to use Medicare under the new system, as well as their aides. It's amazing how many of my conservative friends are willing to consider this position, once I include the thought about Congress critters.

Here's hoping.

:kick: