July 27, 2009
The President had a bad week… a press conference to tout healthcare, at which he meandered, appeared bored and uninformed…which ended with an ill thought answer to a question about the arrest of an African American professor…in which he insulted a decorated police officer and the Cambridge Police Department. It threw the President off message, destroyed whatever good he accomplished with his press conference, and forced Mr. Obama to personally walk back his remarks at an unscheduled Friday afternoon appearance in the White House briefing room. The percentage of those who strongly disapprove of the President’s performance shot up six points in four days.
The Democratic leadership in the House had a bad week. Speaker Pelosi threatened to yank the health care bill from Chairman Waxman’s Committee and take it straight to the floor, embarrassing Waxman. Waxman then apparently tried to renege on some promises made to the blue dog democrats on his committee. Harsh words were exchanged, each side accusing the other of lying.
Wisely, Republicans stood back most of the week and quietly watched the food fight.
This will go down as the worse week yet of the young Obama Presidency. It is now clear he will not get a health care bill on his desk before the August recess, which he has called his signature issue and on which he has now spent serious political capital.
And the longer the debate goes on, the less likely it is that he will get anything close to what he asked for, if at all.
The President made a serious mistake when he left to the House democratic leadership the task of writing the stimulus bill. He demanded a bill and said it was imperative to economic recovery. The leadership put it together in the dead of night, filled it with pork, rammed it down the throats of the blue dog democrats and gave no member time to read it. Unemployment has since skyrocketed and the recession has grown worse. The credibility of the House democrats as thoughtful stewards of the national purse went to hell overnight.
Having made that mistake with the stimulus bill, one has to wonder why the President is now making the same one on health care. As for the blue dogs, many took a political hit for voting for a stimulus bill and a climate change bill they were not given time to read. They are the ones who will face rough elections in center right districts in 2010. Little wonder they are refusing to be railroaded on a health care bill that a growing number of their constituents oppose.
