Squeeze Play
15 August 2009 10:54 am by Taylor Marsh
–bumped–
Downsizing expectations, William Jefferson Clinton offered the pitch.
Ken Conrad announces he won’t vote for a public option.
Huffington Post details part of what went down.
In a speech rallying progressives to make one last major push to pass health care reform, former President Bill Clinton accused Republicans of propagating a campaign of disinformation reminiscent of the effort to bring down his own attempt at reform.
“Do you want to go through that again?” the 42nd President asked the crowd of bloggers, online activists, and a slew of Democratic lawmakers at the Netroots Nation convention in Pittsburgh. “Of course you don’t. I’m telling you no matter how low they drive support for this with misinformation, the minute the president signs a health care reform bill his approval will go up. Secondly, within a year, when all those bad things they say will happen don’t happen, and all the good things happen, approval will explode.” …
In the midst of the mother of all health care squeeze plays, Obama’s approval isn’t exactly on anyone’s mind.
WJC on DADT
It’s Mike Madden who gets to the bottom line, including a moment, though he didn’t identify the person, that Lane Hudson interrupted Clinton on DADT (see Pam Spaulding), which is a bit backward looking considering where we’re standing. The rest of Madden’s Salon piece quite a bit more sober than most: As another Democrat’s healthcare reforms sputter, Bill Clinton talks incremental change to the Netroots Nation. Hey, who else has the power to make the plea?
Clinton also suggested that progressives had the opportunity to dominate American politics for the next 40 years. But for someone describing such a historic juncture, he seemed — cautious. “Trying to hold the president’s feet to the fire is fine, but first we have to win the big argument,” Clinton said about the healthcare fight, which many progressives now worry could be heading toward the same fate it met 15 years ago. “It’s ok with me if you want to keep everybody honest. But try to keep this thing in the lane of getting something done. We need to pass a bill.”
At about the same time Paul Begala was writing in the Washington Post, as if to also prepare people on the compromises to come from Clinton and Conrad. Quite the set up.
“We need to pass a bill,” said Clinton. Of course, he’s correct. But the Democratic desperation is depressing, especially considering the latest Conrad co-op news.
We’ve got a Democratic president who came into office with the wind at his back and the people (and the press) at his feet, and a majority in both houses of Congress, but this is what it’s come down to.
