Krugman: "How could he have made Joe Lieberman less, um, Liebermanish?"

[ProSense]

Krugman

There’s a lot of dismay/rage on the left over Obama, a number of cries that he isn’t the man progressives thought they were voting for.

<...>

But on health care, I don’t see how he could have gotten much more. How could he have made Joe Lieberman less, um, Liebermanish? And I have to say that much as I disagree with Ben Nelson about many things, he has seemed refreshingly honest, at least in the final stages, about what he will and won’t accept. Meanwhile the fact is that Republicans have formed a solid bloc of opposition to Obama’s ability to do, well, anything.

Some of my commenters have argued that even with this bill Democrats may well lose seats next year — possibly even more than they would have without it. Definitely on the first point; on the second, I don’t think people realize just how damaging it would be if Obama didn’t get any major reforms passed. But in any case, that misses the point. The reason to pass reform, even inadequate reform, now isn’t to gain seats next year; it is to pass reform, which will do vast good, during the window that’s available. If it doesn’t pass now, it will probably be many nears before the next chance.

But back to Obama: the important thing to bear in mind is that this isn’t about him; and, equally important, it isn’t about you. If you’ve fallen out of love with a politician, well, so what? You should just keep working for the things you believe in.

[tblue]

1. " If you’ve fallen out of love with a politician..."

Yeah, I never was in love, but I'd classify my relationship with Obama as "complicated."

l

[treestar]

2. True if there are going to be more repukes in the Senate next year

then get what reform we can while we have the chance.

Those new Repukes might not necessarily be replacing Blue Dogs or Lieberman either.

[angee_is_mad]

3. Prosense that's for the positivity

and a sea of negativity and anti-Obama bashers.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. "Anti-Obama bashers"

You sure about that?

[Canuckistanian]

4. Joe Lieberman, douche

I'm surprised anyone expected different from the "Connecticut Cowboy".

[Cha]

6. I still love all the politicians I've ever loved.

and added some new ones..Gore, Dean, Kerry, Lamont, Obama, Biden, Grayson & Hillary(have been added)..

Well there was that Edwards guy that I'm not fond of anymore.

Hopefully we can look back on this years from now and see that we're glad they took this opportunity when they did.

[jimlup]

7. Krugman nails it as usual