Obama not giving up on bipartisanship - huh?
"White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the administration is "absolutely not" giving up on efforts to come up with a bipartisan health care reform bill."
Ok, I'll try to phrase this fairly charitably - "Why the hell not?"
Ok, I'll try to phrase this fairly charitably - "Why the hell not?"
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Damn good question Tom. The other side isn't looking to compromise at all. So at this point all of this 'bi-partisan' crap is only amounts to Obama negotiating with himself...
August 19, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
(1) to avoid the reconciliation
(2) to avoid taking 100% of responsbility for the bill
(3) to actually find votes to pass something
or maybe it's
(4) to turn around at the last minute and say "we were hoping and hoping but now we're just gonna go it alone"
Given how much is going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, it simply sounds like "hedge your bets" strategy.
August 19, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's good that President Obama is making an effort to reach across the aisle to conservative Senators like Kent Conrad and Max Baucus.
August 19, 2009 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spot on. After all the aisle is becoming so difficult to locate.
August 19, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think they're hung up on whether Congress or the White House gets the Blue Cross logo. The loser gets UnitedHealthcare.
August 19, 2009 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like your phrasing, Tom! :-)
August 19, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
He shouldn't drop the veil of bi-partisanship. Between now and December, when a bill figures to pass, the opposition must be shown as 'the party of no'. No public option, no co-ops, no healthcare reform, no, no, no, ...
It does no harm to ask for a bi-partisan bill, when push comes to shove, Democrats will have sole control of the final product. If it controls costs, expands coverage to all at an affordable rate and is deficit neutral it will be a winner. The President and the Democrats in Congress will have a big win. The opposition will have NOthing.
August 19, 2009 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bipartisanship is like a chunk of Kryptonite that Obama grips tighter and tighter. If it's a political ploy, it's a very bad one as he is getting weaker by the week. The only way that this can have a good ending is if truly moderate and liberal congresspeople force him into throwing in the fig-leaf called bipartisanship.
But even then, they have to get Harry Reid to change course, and he seems weaker than Obama to act. He is the leader of a 60% majority Senate but bows to the likes of Grassley who has implied he'll scuttle any reform, regardless, and has spread the "death panel" lies. It seems only a demand for reconciliation will produce a bill with the public's interest at its core.
Let's cut out the middle man and put it to a people's vote. Include all current plans as they are and a strong public option. If the people don't support the public option, they won't vote for it by signing up, and it will atrophy.
August 20, 2009 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink