"he certainly sounds serious" - Who cares? You can't believe any word he says. He'll break promises and never even give an explanation. We all know that.

Doesn't this guy know that after all these friggin' speeches, if hcr does not get done, it will go down as one of the greatest failures of presidential leadership of recent memory? And yet, all signs indicate that he has no idea what to do next.

"it's now time to make the shift from talking publicly about getting this done to talking privately about how to get this done"
Privately? Why privately? Where is the effing promised transparency? There are only two min ways left to push this through: Reconciliation and nuking the filibuster! It has to be one of theose two, no other otpions. Why can't the president simply say what he choses, so that the public can support him with that? Really, why can't Obama at least once LEAD, for a change?

I guess it's hopeless. With this loudmouth, it's always all talk and no action.

We don't need speeches. By this late hour, it should be obvious that Obama's oratory has had negligible impact on HCR. The problem is that Obama keeps thinking high-mindedness will sway editorial boards and - by extension - the citizenry. But there's no functional connection between our civic life and journalism. That's pretty much over. If Obama thinks the journalistic cavalry will ride to our rescue, he's deluding himself.

What do you want Obama to do? The only bills that will pass must get 60 votes in the Senate.

He could try fighting to eliminate the filibuster. That would be good for our democracy, long term, but would fail this year and do nothing for the health care bill.

He could try fighting for a bill that could get 60 votes in the Senate. Of course, such a bill would not be worth fighting for. All the necessary backroom deals for unions and individual Senators would undermine the purpose of the legislation and further erode trust in the Democratic Party.

He could try fighting to get a bill passed through reconciliation, thus requiring only a simple majority. That would make the Republicans furious and kill off any remaining trust among independent voters. It could backfire in November. And it would put a permanent end to Obama's bipartisan / post-partison pose.

I can't come up with any other options. And they're all too risky for Obama. The president we've come to know this past year is timid, narcissistic, and lacking the will to take political risks in the name of principle.

So I predict a lot more talk. And no health care reform.

The House won't budge first unless the Senate passes a fix on the health care bill; and promises won't work because we all saw how Lieberman blew up a done deal once. Lincoln or Nelson would be more than happy to do it again, IMO.

So, we're going to watch the president cheer lead this mother until Reid gets the 50 votes he can for a reconciliation fix. And given how the senate lied about being for the public option, since there aren't 50 votes there now for it I don't know how successful he'll be.

On the plus side, the president seems determined to force a vote and he can. And then it'll shake out politically one way or the other but making them take a vote is the big thing IMO. They should push the conference deal they made through the house and then the senate and let it fail because of the Republicans.

That would be something to run on in 2010.

Such purdy words, so little leadership...

"The only bills that will pass must get 60 votes in the Senate."
After all the constant talk about reconciliation and/or nuking the filibuster, still so many folks who are simply clueless...
Sigh.

"they're all too risky for Obama"
What about the risk in doing nothin'?
What did Kucinich say? "Be bold or lose the country!"

Gray, I agree with you and I wish we had a president with Kucinich's courage and integrity.

... We don't.

Gray, I agree with you and I wish we had a president with Kucinich's courage and integrity.

This is what is fucking wrong with the left. Are there really people out there who think that Dennis Kucinich would be a better president than Obama? Electing a president isn't about choosing the person whose stated policy positions agrees most with your own. If that were what it were about, my preferred candidate would be, well, me.

John, I voted for Obama. Kucinich would have sucked as prez. I doubt I'm what's wrong with the left. Should I have voted for McCain?

We've heard it all before -- the stirring declarations, the ringing calls to action. And then Obama walks away. He's got it down to a science. Even now, as he's "rallying the troops," his advisors are alternating between: (1) pressuring House Dems to abandon reconciliation and pass a terminally-flawed Senate HCR bill, and (2) telling Democrats that there's no hurry on this issue, and that they can take it up again in the Spring, after they pass a jobs bill (good luck with that, by the way). There is no kind way to say this: Obama is floundering, his White House is adrift, and meaningful health care reform is dead in the water.

Deeds, not words.

Now, it's altogether possible that Obama is having secret meetings or sending aides to do private sessions behind the scenes, but, from my vantage point, there's way too little head-knocking going on. The plan was for this to be done LAST AUGUST. Time for nice speeches is over.

But by all appearances, it's now time to make the shift from talking publicly about getting this done to talking privately about how to get this done.

I see Gray @ 5:11 beat me to it. Now would be an excellent time for Obama to pull Reid, Pelosi, and any other necessary parties into a room with a C-span coverage and begin hammering out the compromises on national TV. Screw Republicans. Let America see how grown-ups do legislation. Keep the promise of transparency, alleviate fears of backroom deals, and bring reality TV loving Americans into the process.

Legislation is messy I know, and that idea probably wouldn't work very well, but it should be done anyway.

Get America involved in a way Republicans would never dare do business.

I despise leftist pussies like the ones on this blog almost as much as I do rightwing dogmatic nutbags. You bitch and whine about Obama as if all he has to do is pass his hands over a piece of paper and legislation will comme about exactly as you want it. Your the same disgusting pricks that voted for Nader and gave us the supreme court we have now.

Get your heads out of your asses and get behind the guy who's doing the right thing.

Hey felix how is the weather over there in Tenn? It's pretty cold her. I betcha Sister Sarah warms you all up this evening.

"What do you want Obama to do?"

A good start would be an apology followed by publicly firing Rahm for being an incompetent douche bag.

Barring that it'd be nice for him to simply shut up about how he's going to finish things we know now he never gave a damn about. Seriously this has gone far past insulting.

"Get your heads out of your asses and get behind the guy who's doing the right thing."

And that would be?

Not Obama. He's lied to us, deserted the field while mouthing platitudes about how important HCR is, then turned around and stabbed it (and us) in the back to give a huge handout to the insurance companies.

I suppose if he has to have turned out to be an utter crap weasel we can at least be comforted that he's been an incompetent crap weasel- letting himself get taken time and again by congressional reps (if a man is judged by the quality of his enemies Obama should be acting out the crying in the shower scene from the Crying Game right about now).

Clearly it is now in the hands of the Senate. Either they put together their reconciliation fix or they flush the whole thing. Simple as that.

The talk about Obama not leading on this issue is absolute hogwash and should be taken back to FDL where it started. Does everyone forget where we started? Does no one remember what HAS been accomplished in the past year. HCR is not the only issue.

And as far as HCR, what President has gotten us closer? Name the President that led on this issue better.

It is time to pass the damn bill.

The way to beat a bully is to kick his ass.

And as far as HCR, what President has gotten us closer? Name the President that led on this issue better.

President Hillary Kucinich would have passed single payer on her second day in office!! And bought us ice cream!

Meanwhile, in the hell that is the individual health insurance market the San Francisco Chronicle reports on huge rate increases:

Anthem Blue Cross customers got a shock this week when the health insurer informed thousands of individual policyholders that their premium rates will jump as much as 39 percent on March 1.
"There aren't any other parts of our society where people have no regard for inflation rate and increase their prices this much. I can't imagine anything in the world that's going up 39 percent," said Josh Libresco, 54, of San Rafael, as he grappled with the news that his family premium will go from $858 per month to $1,192 - and that's with a $5,000 deductible.
Anthem, which has reportedly sent letters this week to those who buy their coverage individually and are not covered by a group policy, said rising health care costs led to the increase.

"The talk about Obama not leading on this issue is absolute hogwash and should be taken back to FDL where it started. Does everyone forget where we started? Does no one remember what HAS been accomplished in the past year. HCR is not the only issue."

Alright, then let's run through a few of the issues, shall we?

There was the stimulus where the president watered it down to try and appease republicans and then none of them voted for it.

Then there was rendition where the president decided actually it was just fine and he'd be happy to continue the bush era practices.

Then there's Gitmo where he could have ordered the military to move the prisoners to bases in the US on day 1 and instead gave the issue to congress who, as expected, sandbagged.

Then there's targetted killings, where obama has been happy to assert his unilateral ability to order the murder of people who are sleeping with no review process at all.

Then there's HCR- covered that. Obama started the negotiation by giving up everything the left wanted because there's just no way the people with control of two out of three branches could possibly enact policies they actually like. That's crazy talk!

Then there's DADT. Obama could have ordered the military to no enforce the matter on day one. Instaed, like gitmo he's pretended that he had no control and left it to a congress he knew would do nothing.

Then there's the banks. Yep he sure protected them from any sort of regulation or punishment for killing the global economy. Thanks, Barack!

I won't blame him for the expansion in Afghanistan because at least there he didn't lie to us during the campaign.

"And as far as HCR, what President has gotten us closer?"

Uh... ALL of them? This bill makes meaningful health care reform impossible. That means that Obama after a huge electoral victory in no small part due to the left, and with large majorities in both houses, managed to produce a bill that is one of the top ten worst pieces of legislation in the history of this country.

"The way to beat a bully is to kick his ass."

Yep. But you've yet to realize that you people screaming "Pass the damn bill" are the bullies. Enjoy November.

Face it, Obama is a one-term president just like Jimmy Carter, done in by the same thing that did in Jimmy Carter: a bad economy and a weak-kneed, corrupt Democratic congressional party.

Obama might have wanted health care reform, but the congressional Democrats most certainly did not want it. There will be no movement on the issue, and as a result of that and the bad economy the Democrats will lose the House and maybe the Senate this year, and Romney will be the next president.

People can blame the Republicans for this if they want to, but not me. Put the blame exactly where it belongs: on a weak president and the corrupt party that he most certainly does not lead.

p.s.: I didn't bother watching the State of the Union speech this year. None of it's going to happen anyway.

He really does give a good, rousing speech. I wish we could create an official position for him--National Orator, or something like that--and let Biden take over the actual being President part.

and let Biden take over the actual being President part.

Just curious- What does teh "actual being President part" entail, in your mind? And what do you think Biden would/could do that Obama hasn't?

Too bad so many Democrats, along with the entire collection of GOP fools in Congress, are afraid to make real changes.

Time to tell health insurance companies that they have screwed this up enough and that we will expand Medicare for better coverage, cut the insurance companies out of the Part D gravy train, and extend it to all citizens and legal residents. Enough silly attempts at compromise. Single payer saves money and saves lives.

well, it's been reported that Dubya's last words before taking off from the South Lawn in Marine One were Après moi le déluge

... being Dubya, though, he mangled the pronounciation of the phrase so instead he said api moi le déluré which translates, roughly, as "Me resourceful lady-apple

Go figure.

I heard part of this speech. From what I heard, it sounds like Obama wants to take some time to explain clearly to the public what this health reform bill contains and to at least partially fight back against the Republican propaganda and fear tactics that have dominated coverage of HCR for the last year. He also still wants to have dialogue with Republicans, saying that if they have good ideas, he wants to hear them. (He said that with a bit of a smile and an example of one Repub who supposedly has an HCR plan that costs nothing. O said that if this is true, then he wants to hear about it.) So, I took from this part of the speech that a push to pass HCR soon is off the table. Obama really seems to believe that rationality will win over irrationality. I fear he may be wrong.

Biden strikes me as someone with a clue about how negotiation works, and perhaps a more realistic understanding of his former colleagues (Democratic as well as Republican).

Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe he'd be rolled just as easily as Obama. But the current cycle of inaction, followed by another stirring speech, followed by inaction, followed by another round of "Let me be clear," followed by no action isn't going to do anybody any good.

"He really does give a good, rousing speech. I wish we could create an official position for him--National Orator, or something like that--and let Biden take over the actual being President part."

I think he'd be great as a party fund raiser, say DNC chair. Conveniently that'd let Dean move into a policy position.

WOW ... that was a long post but let's go through the continued FDL hogwash.

The President did not water down the stimulus, that would be the Senate, specifically Lincoln, Bayh, Nelson, etc. But hey, you FDLers blame the President.

On the war issues, sorry but "can't we all get along" is not going to solve the problem. Of course you know that the President can't just release everyone and bring all the troops home. We all have to deal with reality and the present policy is clearly trying to bring us back from the brink of being as bad as our enemy.

The President can't do anything about GITMO without funding from Congress and he has initiated the end of DADT, but not fast enough for you FDLers.

He has proposed strong banking regulations many of which passed the House.

And, finally, no reasonable analysis of the current HCR bills find that they are not a vast improvement over the status quo.

More PS

Magic Dog @ 8:23

p.s.: I didn't bother watching the State of the Union speech this year. None of it's going to happen anyway.

Speaking about "not going to happen." Did you hear the goofy talk coming out of the mouth of NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden after Obama privatized space for billionaires last week?

Here's the setup and the happy-as-a-loon quote, (firewall link may not work for you):

Instead, NASA would pay for commercial rocket companies to resupply the International Space Station over the next decade while its own workers develop new engines and rockets that NASA officials hope will enable a vast expansion of its future manned-space efforts.

"Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year, people fanning out across the inner solar system, exploring the Moon, asteroids and Mars nearly simultaneously in a steady stream of 'firsts,' " said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. "We will blaze a new trail of discovery and development," he said.

Yeah right. We believe you...
That's like talking about how the wonderfully cool the water
is going to be once the Titanic finally gets out of our way...

Biden strikes me as someone with a clue about how negotiation works, and perhaps a more realistic understanding of his former colleagues (Democratic as well as Republican).

So Biden could persuade Lieberman, Nelson, Lincoln, etc not to be huge dicks, he just doesn't want to? Olly Snowe and Susan Collins would've pulled the filibuster out from under Mitch McConnell if Biden asked them to, but he hasn't? I guess because Obama hasn't asked Biden to ask them?

The natives are getting very, very restless, Mr. Benen.

What Steve didn't report was that the President also exhorted the Democratic congress people to reach out to the Republicans to get things done on a bipartisan basis. This is beyond naive and calls into question his seriousness.. Al Franken says the Senate needs guidance from the White House. Why? God knows but why not give it to them. Just pass the damned bill using reconciliation or whatever is required. Just damned do it!

OFA has started sending out emails trying to get its members to write letters-to-newspapers, facebook posts etc calling for "health care now".

Which is nice but it is very confusing to see the President's organizing group calling for "health care now" while the President himself is saying things more like "we will definitely do this... later".

It isn't news to hear the Democrats saying they'll definitely pass this (except to the extent that it refutes other news based on blown-up quotes implying the Democrats wouldn't pass it, or would break it up and pass it in pieces). The Democrats are obviously going to pass this, it's not really like they have a choice. What would be news is the Democrats saying when or now they are going to pass it.

when or now

"when or how"...

Thank you, Pragmatic. Some of the above comments remind me of when disgruntled fans screamed at Andre Dawson one afternoon, "Acknowledge me!"

"The talk about Obama not leading on this issue is absolute hogwash and should be taken back to FDL where it started."

Hey Pragmatic:

FDL has done more to advance the progressive cause than little crap-weasels like you. They were there to fight Loserman in 2006. Where the fuck where you? Oh yeah, probably voting for the motherfucker you two faced son of a bitch.

How about you come to my neighborhood and talk shit about FDL so I can punch you in your fat fucking face ...

My the trolls are out in full force today.

Reid isn't going to get reelected. He's basically a walking dead man politically (sounds better than lame duck). Obama needs to take him aside and tell that if he does the right thing and passes HCR, there's a chance he can come back in 4 years and get his old job back. Otherwise, he's finished.

Senate Dems need to realize that voting against HCR is not a safe bet for them. They need to get rid of the worst parts of the Senate bill and pass it through reconciliation.

So Pragmatic you basically just have no idea what you are talking about, huh?

"The President did not water down the stimulus, that would be the Senate, specifically Lincoln, Bayh, Nelson, etc. But hey, you FDLers blame the President."

Actually Obama had a lot to do with it. Obama tried neogitiating with the GOP on the stimulus and gave into them a lot and got nothing in return. Really go look on TPM or here or basically anywhere and everyone agrees that was on Obama.

"On the war issues, sorry but "can't we all get along" is not going to solve the problem. Of course you know that the President can't just release everyone and bring all the troops home."

Thank you for just making shit up and pretending I said it. It makes my job of demonstrating you are a douche a lot easier.

"The President can't do anything about GITMO without funding from Congress and he has initiated the end of DADT, but not fast enough for you FDLers."

Actually the president could close the prison part of GITMO anytime he wanted. It's a military base he's CinC. It goes with the job. It doesn't require special funding to move prisoners from one site to another. That's all kinds of stupid, "pragmatist."
As for DADT he hasn't started anything. He's made some speeches and then... made more speeches. He could order the military not to enforce the regs today and it would require a successful court challenge from someone with standing to force him to reinstate it (which would not happen given how leary the SCOTUS is to do that and the fact the top military brass agree with getting rid of DADT).
He could do it in the time it would take him to sign his name.

"He has proposed strong banking regulations many of which passed the House."

Uh huh. A year after the fact he finally puts up some red meat for the base after it becomes clear the honeymoon is over. Any guesses as to how hard he pushes it through the senate?

"And, finally, no reasonable analysis of the current HCR bills find that they are not a vast improvement over the status quo."

Huh, actually I kind of thought there was no reasonable reading that this bill wasn't a huge POS that was going to give the insurance companies everything they ever wanted while pretending that unenforced regulations were going to protect consumers.

If you look at what this bill does it sets back HCR by decades and makes it virtually impossible to ever make any headway because the insurance companies will have orders of magnitude more power because we're giving them a blank check to raid the treasury.

FDL has done more to advance the progressive cause than little crap-weasels like you. They were there to fight Loserman in 2006

In other words: They did nothing. Lieberman is still in office. Lieberman is more powerful than he has ever been.

So, where was I at the time? Well, I for one was on FDL-affiliated sites, cheering on the effort. In other words: I did nothing. I stood with FDL, and doing so accomplished nothing.

I'm tired of doing nothing.

This is why I like Barack Obama. At least he does something. Meanwhile FDL is still doing nothing, actually FDL is arguing we should do even less, pushing back against Obama's attempts to do something, arguing that if we can't do three times as much as we're doing right now then we shouldn't do anything at all...