As the Republicans and their corporate buddies have rolled out a slight twist on the now age-old "Bitch Slap the Democrats" routine on healthcare, our friends the DC Dems once again find themselves standing there, mouths agape at the atrocious behavior, lies, and simply outrageous tactics just as paralyzed as the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.  One has to wonder if those DC Dems ever tire of being beaten up like that?  Does it ever cross their minds in advance of these predictable political temper tantrums and bully tactics of the right wing that they might prepare for and counter what they know is going to come their way?  Do you think perhaps we are nearing the point where the DC Dems might just get a clue and fight back before it is too late and the well of public debate has been so poisoned they will never be able to reverse the damage done? 

Yes, yes I know the DC Dems are explaining until they are blue in the face and they are trying to counter the deliberate lies and the idiocy taking place in the town halls.  Yes I'm fully aware that the "reasonable" and "sensible" and "pragmatic" people who are our leaders are now out there trying to get the word out about healthcare reform.  And yes, I know they've somehow gotten some pharma interests and others to pony up for an expensive ad campaign.  In short, I am well aware that the Democrats are now "responding" to the Republican assault and I repeat the predictable Republican assault.  But why did they wait when they had to have known what was coming?

What is suprising to me as, I think, with most observers is how it appears the Democrats were taken almost completely unawares by this "sudden" Republican offensive against healthcare reform.  I find that impression and the weak, choppy Democratic response really unacceptable.  The DC Dems may never tire of having the right wing spit in their faces, they may never tire of being humiliated and made to look like impotent, weaklings with neither the ability nor inclincation to defend themselves or their posititions.  But ya know what?  Me and lots of other Democrats are sick and tired of this predictable and now all too famliar scenario because it doesn't end well.

The DC Dems started off with the Quixotic and strategically foolish goal they always start off with: an effort to ensure whatever emerges from the Congress has bipartisan support.  Can we just drop that naive, thoroughly unproductive and far too politically costly strategy at long last?  It never works on any legislation that is truly important unless Democrats completely or almost completely cave in to every demand the right wingers make and by so doing the product is often not even worth having because it's so watered down.  And so it went with healthcare all year long.  Only now, as the Republican hyenas are circling for the kill and laughing their vile, ugly heads off at their prey, the perenially clueless DC Dems, who are just starting to realize the only way to go is to push through a healthcare reform bill without Republican votes.

Unfortunately for the nation, it is now so late in the game that many of the Republican aims are already achieved. The Republicans seek to delay, to sidetrack, to misinform, and to defeat healthcare reform first, because their masters foam at the mouth at the thought their profiteering on the health of the American people might be somehow restrained and second, because they believe by beating healthcare they can cripple the Obama Presidency perhaps fatally.  The pusilanimous Democrats (including the White House) in their unendingly obsequious way, took single payer off the table before the game even began and capitulated numerous desirable features of healthcare reform in advance to assuage the right and their special interest allies, sweeten the deal if you will, to entice them to vote in favor of healthcare reform.  At great political cost and at the cost of making it much less effective, this approach hampered the economic stimulus bill earlier in the year.  As local governments make cutbacks and layoffs we can see how costly this game of assuaging the right really is.  It threatens now to completely undo any hope for healthcare reform.  Indeed, the President uses the phrase health insurance reform more often now than not because of how far the effort has already been set back.  It remains to be seen whether Obama can recapture the momentum and pull some sort of reform out of his hat before the end of the year.  The longer the fight goes on, the less likely it is we will end up with that result.

For decades now the Republicans have adopted this tactic of extreme, implaccable and, if necessary, irresponsible and right wing fringe opposition and far more often than not the Democrats have rewarded that behavior lavishly.  The Democratic response to the bully boy tactics is viewed by Republicans (rightly) as weakness they can exploit so it only encourages them to keep it up.  Once they realized that bullying worked against the Democrats, the Republicans have been using it whenever they can and, far more often than not, meeting with tremendous success.  Despite years and years of experience with this, the DC Democrats insist on going through the same process of giving the opposition the benefit of the doubt, going out of their way to accomodate, and then being caught by surprise when the Republicans respond with delay and obstruction in committee and lies, malicious attacks and outrageous false accusations on the floor and in every venue of public debate. 

In the main, the DC Democrats, as we all know, reel with incredulity that Republicans would resort to such gutter tactics even though it has been going on for many years.  Anyone remember 2004?  How about 1988?  The DC Dems, in fine academic and highbrow fashion, deplore the distortions and lies.  They strongly disapprove of the Republican tactics of course.  They provide voluminous excuses and refutations to counter the odious misinformation campaign.  They talk and they talk and they talk.  They bore the nation to death "proving" they are right and how much smarter and better behaved they are than those mean old Repubwicans!  And in the eyes of the average American they look weak.  They look like they are afraid to defend their position.  They appear to all the world to be unable, if not unwilling, to effectively stand up for what it is they say they believe in.  They demonstrate, with their lame and ineffective responses to the attacks on them and their positions that they will refuse to fight back even for themselves, and even on issues they claim to believe are vitally important to the future of the nation!  To the delight of their opponents and right on schedule, they can be counted on to signal to the American people that they are weak, calculating politicians who are not to be trusted.  And yes, this happens even though the nation perceives the Republicans to be completely out of line, extremist, dishonest, and untrustworthy.  They don't care what people think of them as long as the main focus is on the Democrats and that it is negative.  The smear works and makes the otherwise much more appealing Democrats look as filthy and dirty as the Republicans already are.  The Republicans understand that the only way to level the playing field for them is to make the Democrats seem as corrupt, venal, and self serving as they themselves are.  Their tactical objective is only to make sure that people don't trust the Democrats or the Democratic program.  The don't give a rats ass what people think of them or their party in the context of achieving their immediate goal of defeating, in this case, healthcare reform.  All they need to do to "win" on the issue is to raise enough doubts about the Democrats and their intentions to scare the "moderate" Democrats (DINOs) back into submission so they kill the bill or modify it to the point of being ineffective.  It appears that is, once again in process though (thankfully) their success is not yet assured.

What the DC Dems don't do in the face of this predictable Repubilcan behavior is stand up to the lying bullies.  What they don't do is resolve to quit enabling these irresponsible and malevolent people from preventing our country from moving ahead.  What they don't do is finally take a stand and fight these jerks and give as good as they get.  No.  Instead, the Democrats insist on doing as they have always done as though they were in a genteel debating match as opposed to a knock down drag out fight in the middle of the street with the whole world watching.  The DC Democrats, in all their nerdy superiority and with all the enormous brainpower and vast ability they have, insist on following the same failed strategy they always take.  Rarely does this strategy prevail for Democrats on the issues most critical in moving the nation forward into the future.  Even in the rare case when it does work they emerge covered in the slime the Republicans heaped on them and looking worse than ever.  Yet they insist on responding in the same old ineffective manner that has lost the day so many times before.

When oh when will those oh-so-smart DC Democrats understand that being ladies and gentlemen during a fight while being ridiculed, spit upon, kicked and punched and scratched and impugned to the point where you've almost lost is just plain stupid and won't work?  When will they realize they need to call those liars what they are?  Liars!  When will they realize that no bipartisan comity has existed on Capitol Hill since at least 1980 and it isn't ever going to be coming back no matter how many Republican asses they kiss or how many of them they bow down to?  When will they realize that they can no longer play the game of pleasing the corporate interests and throwing an occasional bone to the people is a strategy that has seriously damaged our country, decimated the middle class, and virtually destroyed the stability of blue collar America?

I have a suggestion for the smart DC Dems: you can't serve two masters so quit trying!  You claim you are on the side of the people yet your every compromise only benefits the same interests the Repubilcans defend because of your split loyalty and your devotion to the corporate interests that are and have been so openly hostile to the interests of the average American.  If you are going to represent the people then do so proudly and openly and without hesitation from now on.  You will have to disappoint and piss off the corporate interests you are in bed with in order to do that.  If you are going to represent the people then fight for them, don't deceive us by claiming you will fight when your record proves you have no stomach for fighting and instead prefer to negotiate compromises that curry favor for yourselves with the special interests but erode the safety and security of our jobs, our famlies and our communities.  I and many like me are tired of hearing that "if we only elect even more Democrats next time around then we can finally do what we've promised."  If you really do believe in the things you say you believe in then quit apologizing for them and stand up for those things.  It is far better to go down fighting for what is right once in a while than it is to consistently humiliate and dishonor yourself and your constituents by submitting to bad compromises and then still getting beaten in the end.  Their is honor in having courage from time to time and having the courage of your convictions.  You may not always win, but you at least will have the respect of those for whom you say you are fighting. 

If reforming the healthcare system of this nation is not worth going all out for in the face of the ugly tactics and inexcusably dishonest behavior of the right then what issue would be worth fighting for?  What issue would the DC Dems be willing to draw the line in the sand over and declare this far and no farther or else?  What will it take for the DC Democrats to have enough balls to finally determine that no matter how undesirable it can be, they will go to the mat and mercilessly attack the opposition until they either submit or are completely wiped out just as the opposition has so often done to them when given the opportunity?  I have been waiting decades for the answer and still don't know it but anxiously await the day when they finally dispense with their strategy of trying to accomodate evil and start fighting for what they and we all know is right.  I can't think of a better issue upon which to begin than the health of our people.

As a purely strategic proposition, it is pretty well agreed by most people the President has lost the momentum on the issue of healthcare and is no longer driving the public debate or the agenda.  As a practical matter, how can the President turn this situation around?  This does not mean that the situation is careening out of control, but it does mean that the President has been spending much more time reacting than he has in initiating the past couple of months.  He has not appeared to be in command of what is going on in Congress and the opposition has won some tactical victories.  So the question on many people's minds is what can the White House do to recapture the issue, regain the momentum and take command of the public agenda and debate once again?

I have a couple of suggestions for consideration.  They aren't originial I don't think, but I do think they would be effective.  Maybe some ultimate wonk/nerd type in the White House will see this and get inspired.  Anyway, it can't hurt to throw an idea or two out there for consideration.

It is important to remember that the nation wants a leader, not a head lecturer in a President.  A leader exhorts, inspires, and lays out terms both for his followers and for those they oppose.  The President has been doing a whole lot more in lecturer mode (zzzzzzzz) than he has been leading and inspiring of late and so it would be tremendously beneficial to get him out of that boring, Washington/talking head mode and into the role he plays best which is the inspiring orator/leader laying out a clear vision on a clear path.  As a candidate, Obama met with tremendous success with that model.  Debates weren't particularly his moment to shine.  What worked best for him was when he gave a good speech, laid out in terms anyone can understand and delivered in a way that motivated the listeners.  And the best and most inspiring speeches he gave were on the campaign trail at those mass rallies, especially the gigantic outdoor rallies.

If the White House really wants to win this healthcare debate and end up with a piece of legislation the President can be proud of, they know they are going to have to pull out all the stops.  To me, that means they are going to have to literally return to campaign mode, which is what the Obama organization does best anyway, but now they desperately need to gear up for the campaign to pass healthcare and they need to exhort and to energize the millions who continue to have faith in the President and who are looking to be inspired once again. 

There are any number of ways to utilize the mass rally approach to great effect in the healthcare debate as was done in the campaign.  There could be a series of huge rallies in states where wavering blue dogs are claiming they don't know if their people are supportive.  Or there could be large rallies all across the country on the same day and at the same time demonstrating the muscle and support the President has with the people in a way that no one else can.  One scenario might be that he could give a speech to a throng in New York or Cleveland or Atlanta (wherever) that could be simultaneously shown on big screens at mass rallies in every major American city.  Imagine the stark contrast the stories on the nightly news would be versus the stuffy, typical DC settings, Congressional hearings and so on.  The tv news would be filled with cheering crowds in support of the President and reform.

More importantly than the logisitcs would be the content of what the President would have to say... or as we call it in campaign season: the President's message.  It would need to be simplified and not a wonkish, detailed explaination of all the minutae of healthcare.  First, he would have to explain to people once again that reforming our system of healthcare in America is not up for negotiation.  It must happen and it must happen now.  What is being negotiated is what that reform will look like: not whether or not we will have reform.  Second, he would need to make clear what is necessary for any bill to actually reform the system.  Again, this would have to be done in broad, easy to explain and easy to digest terms.  Third, he would have to finally make it clear to the people who stands in the way of reform and he will have to point his finger at the Republican members of Congress, wavering Democrats and the special interests that benefit from killing or watering down reform efforts: greedy insurance and other companies that are growing rich at the expense of eveyrone else.  He must clearly delineate who the good guys and the bad guys are and exhort the people to fight with him in order to make healthcare reform a reality.  Finally, the President must call the people to action and exhort them to call and write their members of Congress demanding reform.  They should visit the offices of their members of Congress and tell them forcefully that reform is not optional but necessary, etc...  He could focus his remarks particularly on the Democrats who are really the biggest roadblocks to good legislation.  This sort of call to action makes the e-mails we all get from his organization and the White House pale in comparison.  It's far more powerful and meaningful to people when delivered in this way instead of simply in one's mailbox.

For months the President's message has been very good for those of us who like a good policy discussion with all the nuances and details and other stuff the typical citizen neither knows nor cares about.  It's time to start talking about the current reform effort in the language the people speak and not the language of the wonks.  That's one reason the forces of reaction are able to so effectively stymie the President's efforts: all they do is talk in the language the average American understands.  Unfortunately, much of what they are saying is lies, distortions and fearmongering at it's worst, but it is effective because it is simple and easy to comprehend.  The President can win the message battle but he can't do it from the White House press room or at staid venues or the occasional town hall.  In order to turn the tide and win this battle it needs to be a full blown campaign for victory on healthcare.

If the President's organization put together a mass specatacle or series of them on the order they did during the campaign but this time on behalf of healthcare reform, the corporate media would have no choice but to recognize the millions who would show up and be in all those pictures, to report on them and to admit the depth of the President's support is substantial and undiminished.  In short, they would have to start reporting what polls already show: that a solid majority of the people support the President's effort to reform healthcare and they know it has to happen now.  The President's support and power with the vast numbers of the people would be undeniable once again.  The teabagging protesters of the Town Hall meetings in the past week would be quickly and easily eclipsed and become nats on the elephant's ass once the throngs flocked to the President's side.  More importantly, they would become yesterday's news.  The real purpose of the teabagger disruption strategy is to give the impression that the White House is not in charge, to give the impression that the whole healthcare reform "thing" is a nightmarish mess, and to generally cripple the reform effort---perhaps fatally by the time Congress reconvenes.

But, it's important to remember that the President's message has to be crisp and clear.  It has to be easily understood and reduced to the main features instead of losing form and becoming just another mass blob of boring information to the typical American.  That is how the President can retake the initiative, regain the momentum and create the sort of pressure required on the members of his own party who are holding back progress and doing the bidding of the insurance and other special interests instead of representing the interests of the people.  There is plenty of time for this.  If they started planning now, the President could easily be on the offensive with this campaign by the end of the month and could turn back the tide of reaction and delay by mid-September if this sort of course were taken.  By the end of September there could be a whole new atmosphere in Washington and a much friendlier environment for healthcare reform than we currently have. 

Of course, this isn't the only way these goals can be achieved by the White House but taking this path has some real merits.  It is a forum where the President is very powerful and persuasive.  It shifts the battle to ground upon which the opposition simply cannot compete.  It provides a literal demonstration of the kind of support the President continues to have with the citizenry of the country and puts the lie to all those who say otherwise.  You can cite all the polls you want, but seeing is believing.  It reenergizes pro-reform forces who are currently pretty demoralized.  This strategy scares the hell out of the blue dog types who always sit on the fence and then give in to the corporate money and influence because they think they can get away with it.  To a large extent, this sort of strategy prevents them from going in that direction and instead puts them on notice that selling out on this issue will not be acceptable in their districts or states. 

Just thought I'd throw out my two cents on this.  Seems there's been lots of debate of late on how to regain momentum, etc...  This is just one possibility and one I'd love to see.