Defending Barack
03 December 2007 2:06 pm by Taylor Marsh
Robert Reich is upset.
I’m becoming increasingly concerned about the stridency and inaccuracy
of charges in Iowa — especially coming from my old friend. … ..All is fair in love, war, and politics. But this series of slurs doesn’t
serve HRC well. It will turn off voters in Iowa, as in the rest of the country.
If she’s worried her polls are dropping, this is not the way to build them
back up. … ..
I didn’t hear Mr. Reich speaking up when Barack called Hillary “Bush-Cheney
lite.” Did you?
I didn’t hear Mr. Reich talking about “slurs” when Barack regurgitated
Bob Novak’s swill without any proof. Did you?
Did Reich say anything about the Obama campaign using the “D-Punjab” attack against Hillary?
The answer is no.
But now Mr. Reich has to come to Mr. Obama’s aide because… .. ..? Because
why? First Rove, now Robert Reich. I’m beginning to think that Barack can’t
fend for himself. Not a good image for the campaign any way you look at it.
Why are all the guys rushing to Obama’s defense? Can’t he do it himself?
UPDATE II: About that 15 million number…
So I guess I’m right back where I started: 15 million is a very, very rough estimate of how many people might still be uninsured if Obama’s plan became law. But these are the figures we use in campaigns. And at least a few well-respected authorities, none of them tied to one candidate, think it makes sense.
UPDATE: Ezra Klein has a problem with Reich’s rationale, too.
And lastly, because he’s not relying on a coverage mandate, Obama relies heavily — more so than Edwards or Clinton — on employer-provision. I’m not necessarily against channeling some insurance through employers, but further strengthening your reliance on that system seems like a tremendous mistake to me. … .. Obama could, of course, have come out and said that his sense of the political landscape was that a mandate wasn’t popular enough, and would harm the chances for passage. But because he’s made a big deal out of being bold and unbound by political considerations, he had to pretend that this was a decision made on the policy, rather than political, merits, and it’s just not a very credible claim.
