"Why Obama Should Stop Forcing the Left to Eat Sh*t" by Booman

[StarfarerBill]

"What we are seeing right now is a semi-coordinated, semi-spontaneous revolt on the left to the latest compromises in the Senate health care reform bill. We can talk about the wisdom and possible efficacy of this revolt, but the administration has to deal with the left they have, not the left that they might wish to have (to use some Rumsfeldian logic). What the administration is facing is a consequence of the left having to eat too much shit on a whole host of issues from military commissions, a failure to root out and punish the crimes and practices of the Bush administration, the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, a too-friendly bailout of Wall Street, and now a health care bill that bears little resemblance to what Obama promised us in the campaign.

"Obama can't pass anything that doesn't have unanimous support in the Democratic caucus because of the ruthless obstruction and opposition of the Republican Party. This forces him to govern to the center and make all his compromises with centrist Democrats and/or the two still-existing centrist Republicans in the Senate. The Republican obstruction empowers people like Joe Lieberman. It actually gives veto power to every single senator, but the only way to make up for a defecting Democrat is to win over Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins. So, if Bernie Sanders or Roland Burris revolt, he has to move the bill further to the right in response."

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/144631/why_obama_should_stop_forcing_the_left_to_eat_sh*t/#more

[still_one]

1. Or figure out a way to go through reconciliation /nt

[LeftHandPath]

4. Or use the bully pulpit to sway public opinion.

I would put the best bill forward and let the 'R's vote against it. Let them deal with their vote on election day.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. Missing from the quote;

"It's quite possible that the health care bill we're looking at right now is worse than it would have been if ads and insults weren't hurled at the people who have control over what will be in the bill"

[Bluenorthwest]

3. If that is the case, they are petty and childish beyond measure

[StarfarerBill]

5. Not missing, but irrelevant.

The job of our congresspeople is to produce legislation that best serves the needs of us all, not to be passive-aggressive with that legislation.

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. I have found taking steps...

...that I can foresee will discourage something from getting done that I want done tends to cause the things I want done to not get done.

Odd that way...

[StarfarerBill]

8. Good point.

But I still maintain that if one can't handle the heat, one shouldn't be in the congressional kitchen.

[GOTV]

7. Maybe we can push Obama so far to the right that even HE can't stand it ....

... and will start to agree it's not good enough to just pass something.

[Skittles]

9. YUP

they piled so much shit on it, it's no longer a sandwich - it's just a pile of shit