Love and respect for Obama - from all sorts of places.
From Ronald Brownstein (National Journal):
Obama's determination to chart a new course.
Win or lose, Obama has pursued health care reform as tenaciously as any president has pursued any domestic initiative in decades...
Obama's aim is to establish a long-term political direction -- one centered on a more activist government that shapes and polices the market to strengthen the foundation for sustainable, broadly shared growth. Everything else -- the legislative tactics, even most individual policies -- is negotiable... He has cut deals with traditional adversaries, such as the drug industry, ...but he has also waged unconditional war on the insurance industry.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/politicalconnections.php From the usually-too-cool Gail Collins:
Sunday feels as if it’s going to be the critical moment, and if the House votes yes, it will be kind of incredible.
If it passes, the short-term political consequences are unknowable.
But in 10 years, people will look back in amazement that we once lived in a time when Americans couldn’t get health care coverage if they were sick, when insurance companies could cut off your benefits for being sick, and when run-of-the-mill serious illnesses routinely destroyed families’ financial security.,And if it passes, Barack Obama will have validated his presidency.
He came into office on the wave of hope so enormous there was no way he was not going to disappoint. He broke promises...
But the core qualities that got him elected were his coolness under pressure and the sense that he would never stop fighting for change. No matter what you think of it, this health care bill is one heck of a change. And no matter what you think of the White House strategy, Obama has been incredibly tenacious in pushing for it.
He stuck to his guns. Speech after speech, phone call after phone call, sit-down with one frightened or greedy or confused legislator after another, he kept on the case. “Do not quit. Do not give up,” he told yet another rally on Friday. “We are going to get this done.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/opinion/20collins.html?ref=opinionAnd from Charles Blow:
The empty-headed chattering class began another round of speculation and inane analysis this week when his approval rating dropped to 46 percent, its lowest yet. Silly pundits... If I were a Republican strategist (God forbid!), I would actually be very worried that the lower 50s/upper 40s could be Obama’s bottom. He has weathered some of the worst months of his young presidency recently, and his numbers have barely budged.
At the conclusion of his Wednesday appearance on Fox News, insolent interviewer Bret Baier interrupted the president for the umpteenth time to ask him if he thought that the health care bill would pass. Obama responded with a familiar line:
“I do. I’m confident it will pass. And the reason I’m confident that it’s going to pass is because it’s the right thing to do.”This idea that he wants reform “because it’s the right thing to do” resonates with people. Whether they agree with him or not, they seem to genuinely believe that he has good intentions and that he is, at his base, a good man. This view of him has so penetrated the public that it often goes unspoken.
Despite Obama’s 46 percent approval rating, 61 percent of Americans... still view him as an inspiring figure.Regardless of whether the health care bill survives, Obama has demonstrated that he can. And if the reform bill passes, and his numbers rebound, I’m going to take to calling him Barack the Unbreakable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/opinion/20blow.html?ref=opinion See also a previous post: don't ever call Obama a wimp,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x230994 .
Sure I'm prejudiced - I'll personally benefit if HCR passes. But Obama is trying, always trying to do the right thing, and sometimes even succeeding. Please support him, and keep saying Yes We Can!
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(140 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
