I'm not sure if I agree with him, but I think his incessant rocking hypnotized me into voting for this.

Okay, seriously now, Obama is squandering his election victory by trying to please everyone, both Democrat and Republican, and anyone with even a little wisdom knows that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing NO ONE.

I honestly believe he fears failure. He'd rather pass a weak, half-assed health care reform bill than lose a bill that's actually good. And the thing is, he has enough votes in both houses already to pass the fucking bill! Jesus Christ! Fortunately enough Dems held Obama's feet over the fire recently, so maybe the so-called "Public Option" will pass after all. Still, Obama's swaying with the wind to have a 'major' legislative victory, ANY victory. And guess what, Mr. President? Your victory ain't going to be major unless you have a strong public option.

Basically this guy is right: Obama is a pussy. He needs to demonstrate some real leadership. Until then, he's just going to be a fucking punching bag for conservative hard-liners. Start swinging already, for Christ's sake! Put your heart into it, god damn it!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-flynt/common-sense-2009_b_264706.html

I don't know. I just don't think he is that kind of guy. Isn't it kind of fucked up how us liberals get all is a flurry about the shady way in which Bush and Cheney 'did what they had to do' to get their initiatives passed, but when Obama needs to get some of his progressive legislation passed and he takes the high road, we get all annoyed with him?

I think he is being a remarkable leader, and I don't see him as a pushover. Now maybe some people could argue that his language is just not forceful enough, but as far as all the things that I have seen, where he has been speaking in town halls and giving speeches, I think he is hitting a very appropriate tone and communicating the right information.

But this was an upvote for entertainment, even if TAA is a smug little cunt (who i usually agree with).

It's pretty much true.

Unless Obama plans to pull a rabbit out of the hat when all of our vaunted representatives return to session....

I mean, the committee with three cons and three dems was basically his creation.

Why?

To prove that gridlock works?

I keep looking at McCain and Palin and thinking that they could be in charge now, which turns my hair gray by the second, but then I look at what Obama's doing and...I smell a rat...I see a carnival game.

100% true.. He can't even say, look it isn't socialized medicine, just yet another fucking health plan which now you will have to buy, by law, one of.

He should have started with a Chavez like takeover of the medical industry. Period. Then when they want him to back down he could get something useful.

By the way the two people still out there that think Obama isn't a complete failure.... How's that Iraq thing going? How's that Gitmo doing?

That's true, too, Joe.

Thanks for coming down from Heaven to converse with us mortal types.

So do you know a good place where I can buy an assault rifle?

I'm a liberal progressive, so I can learn.

To me, this all feels familiar.

Remember how Hillary was saying Obama wasn't ready for the 3am phone call, and Obama pretty much didn't say anything about it for a week? I thought Obama was gonna lose.

Remember how Obama kicked the snot out of Hillary on Super Tuesday, and for a month solid afterwards, but the press acted like all that mattered were the primaries in Ohio and Texas? I thought Obama was gonna lose.

Remember how Hillary didn't concede after all the primaries were over, even though she'd lost, and Obama didn't say anything about it? I thought Obama was gonna lose.

Remember how the polls did a total reversal when McCain picked Palin? I thought Obama was gonna lose.

Remember how liberals were worried Bush was going to rig the election for McCain? I thought Obama was gonna lose, even if he won.

Remember how the stimulus package was being blocked by Republicans, who demanded that the entire bill be turned into tax cuts or made half the size? I thought Obama was gonna lose.

So now, here we are, with every currently published draft of the bill containing a public option, and the Republicans lying, yelling, and screaming, thinking Obama is going to lose.

Why?

Because that's what the pundits on the corporate-run TV networks are saying? Because Obama isn't firing back at them with both barrels like FDR or Truman might have?

By all means, get mobilized. Get angry. Get worried about the fate of the bill. Follow slinkerwink's diaries, and follow the calls to action. Sign up for Democracy for America's mailing list. If you aren't already on the list, go to Organizing for America and sign up, then look for events in your area. Visit FireDogLake's action page for the public option, and call your Rep and push them to sign the pledge.

Don't expect Obama to just make this happen on his own. He needs his supporters to drown out the morons who would rather see people go sick than see taxes on people who make more than $250,000/yr go up by 1%, because they're worried about socialism or death panels.

But most of all, don't count him out. He does this. He lets the other side get ahead. He scares the living crap out of us, and makes us doubt whether we'll win. Then, when you're sure he's lost, he does something that reminds you why you supported him in the first place, the tide turns, and before you know it he's won, handily.

So don't let your concern turn to despair. Just keep fighting. The pieces are already in place, all we need to do is remind these people who they work for.

When we win, we're gonna feel silly about how worried we are right now.

In Canada we always hate the politicians we vote for

NetRunner, I'd really like to believe Obama "lets the other side get ahead" as part of a clever strategy he devised, but I don't think so. Remember, it was only a week or so ago that the White House was ready to throw the public option under the bus, until the progressives reminded him and many Democratic congressmen who got them elected. Why would he show a willingness to cave unless he thought it was necessary to secure some sort of 'victory'?

Leadership involves many things, including appearances. And when he starts to signal that he's willing to throw away important provisions of key legislation just to satisfy a small group of people, it makes him look weak. So I really can't see how his actions in this case could be part of a grand strategy, because it only weakens his appearance in the long run. Why should the Republicans work with the Democrats at all in the future, when they know Obama will start caving as long as they throw a few obstacles in the his path?

Obama needs to stick to his guns on the important issues, and health care reform is a VERY important issue. If he's going to give in to the Republicans on all the major legislation, then it makes no difference who won last November. And then I'm one step closer to applying for Canadian citizenship. And I'm not a hockey fan. So do you see how this is really hurting me?!

We have Football here too... although there are less teams... but the field's bigger and there are less downs, and when someone gets tackled everyone helps him up and gives him a big hug. Oh yeah, we also kind of have Baseball... kind of...

So he is a pathetic pussy? How is that NOT the stereotypical liberal?

>> ^kronosposeidon:

All good points. I would simply say that it's not Obama's style to use the bully pulpit to hammer away at opponents. Instead he's using it to make it clear that he's bending over backwards to try to get some Republicans to work with him in good faith. He'll keep that up long past the point where even the most addle-minded cable news watcher will agree that he gave the opposition a chance to come half way.

As for "letting the other team get ahead", he's got this disconcerting habit of letting the news cycle run wild when it's all breathless about some made up issue, like lipstick on a pig, or death panels. Usually he emerges after 3-4 days of nonstop cable hyperventilation, and then comes out, and says "can you believe the kind of crazy things they're saying?", explains what he's really trying to do, and goes back about his business. It worked out in the campaign, and I suspect it will work again now.

As for the rest, here's my view as an armchair political analyst of what the whole "Obama is dumping the public option" thing was really about: it was a trial balloon. He wanted to drop that out there, see what the reaction was, then deny it. That's exactly what they did.

Mid-week, they dropped hints that they were ready to "go it alone" and pass a bill without Republican support. That too was a trial balloon. They dropped it out there, waited to see the reaction, and then denied it.

So, what were the reactions to the first trial balloon? From liberals, sturm and drang, and threats of primarying everybody they could in 2010. From the Republicans (who the balloon was really for), we got cries of "not good enough". They said co-ops were too much. Asked if the co-ops were dropped, they said employer mandates needed to go. Asked if that were dropped, would they vote for the bill, they were noncommittal. Message received.

To the second? Short-lived, but intense support from liberals. From the Republicans, not much -- you can't really ramp up your rhetoric from cries of fascism and socialism, or pull back support from 0 votes offered. Blue Dog Dems mumbled a bit of concern, but they certainly didn't come out in strong opposition.

To me, that pretty much means it's just a matter of when they give up on Republicans, not if.

In any case, there's not much incentive for Obama to make any big changes in strategy now, while Congress is in recess. They don't come back until September 8th, and I suspect they'll continue to push bipartisanship for only just a bit longer, maybe until mid-October. Then they're going to go it alone.

And when they do, no sane person will dispute that he gave Republicans every opportunity to reach a reasonable compromise with him.

^Only time will tell about who is closer to the truth on this, I suppose. I still find the practice of dropping trial balloons to be chickenshit, though I know it's something that both sides of the aisle do from time to time. Can't someone just say what they mean and mean they say?

I follow politics, but not as closely as I should, I'll admit. Maybe this is how shit commonly gets done. A lot of head faking might do the job, so to speak, on Capitol Hill. Doesn't mean that I have to like it. Don't play fucking mind games with the whole country, for fuck's sake. That shit can easily blow up in your face, because it can cause a lot of the faithful to, well, lose the faith. And if Obama keeps up with this shit, then sooner or later I have a feeling it will.

The trial balloon thing is common. It's also common that the media blows an unfortunate turn of phrase out of proportion, and it could be that I'm wrong and they really weren't intentional. Intentional or not, I doubt the White House missed the feedback each "misinterpretation" generated.

But "mind games with the whole country" is not Obama sending mixed signals about the public option. Mind games with the whole country is spreading lies about death panels, socialism, rationing, and all sorts of other shit.

All I'm really saying is, Obama hasn't given up on the public option, we're still early in the process for this thing, and every draft out of every committee so far has contained the public option, so just chill, and wait and see how things turn out.

If Obama does, in the end, do something stupid like drop the public option in return for nothing but Republican votes, then yeah, we can be mad. Until then, there's more constructive things to do with your passion about health care, like pushing progressives to commit to killing bills without the public option.