Obama Forced to Bully Pulpit as Health Care Stalls
17 July 2009 5:54 pm by Taylor Marsh
“We’re going to have to get this done. … Those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken. We are going to get this done. We will reform health care. It will happen this year. I’m absolutely convinced of that. …” – President Obama
Not if Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Ron Wyden, Joe Lieberman, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have anything to say about it. Huffington Post has the letter they sent to Pres. Obama.
While we are committed to providing relief to American families as quickly as possible, we believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.
Since the letter from the senators was dated today, it’s pretty clear what inspired it. Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf’s “no” yesterday.
Ben Nelson also went on CNN to say that the House bill is “class warfare.” This is the typical argument made against tax policies that are wrong headed for other reasons. There is no “class warfare” in the health care debate, even on the surcharge issue, because we’re talking about something that hits everyone, including the wealthy, because every time an uninsured person goes to the emergency room we all get hit with the costs. There are many other reasons health care is a shared reward if it’s passed, none of which has to do with class, except of course if you call leveling the health care playing field a battle to end “class warfare.” On health care, we’re all in this together.
The other problem, which I anticipated would happen, is that with this calculated delay in response to Budget Director Peter Orszag’s “no,” the drum beat will sound against those “tax and spend liberals.” It’s all so predictable. Health care being just the latest issue used to prove this quotable. It also gives the “serious” six politicians an opportunity to sound like prophets of caution and restraint, when what’s called for is boldness.
This is a very dangerous moment for Barack Obama, but also the Democrats. Health care is a big leap, with Obama now caught in mid air. No politician likes taking risks without a safety net, least of all Barack Obama. Today he proved he knows something shifted yesterday, though Obama’s determined to have the last word, or words, actually. Insert his campaign slogan here.
Frankly, there has been way too much drift in the health care debate, so it’s my assessment that it’s long past time for Pres. Obama to throw his weight around and make it clear to everyone this is his health care push.
Pres. Obama was committed to health care reform before. Now he’s tied to it and so is the first term of his presidency, which for any president is the ballgame.
