In William L. Shirer's Berlin Diary he leads off a chapter of journal entries in June of 1940 with the sentence "France did not fight." I think that's part of the reason many liberal bloggers are upset with Barack Obama and his Administration; they feel about Obama and health care reform as Shirer did about France after it fell to Germany's Blitzkrieg. There's a perception that there was no concerted public effort to sway public opinion, to twist Senators' arms, to demand a public option; there's a sense that Obama has remained above the fray, implying he'd be happy to accept whatever the Congress comes up with, as long as there's a bill that can be called "reform."
One of Josh Marshall's readers feels that way too:
They wanted to see Obama push the public option and say that it was crucial, important part. His broad outlines of "cuts the deficit, improves coverage" is too bland and not something people can rally around, and he gives the impression that he's ceding power and leadership to a less capable bunch in the legislative branch.They wanted to see news stories about how "staffers close to the majority leader" say that chairmanships and other perks were on the line for any Democrat who talked about filibustering this crucial bill.
They wanted to see congressional leadership and the president campaign hard for an "up or down vote on healthcare" the way the Republicans did so effectively for the judge appointments.
But none of that happened, and the things that people care about died with a whimper.
I think the change Obama campaigned for was worth a fight, and it didn't and doesn't appear that he's been fighting as hard as he could and should. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the impression I have.
Posted by Linkmeister at December 17, 2009 09:08 AM | TrackBack