Posted on 09/02/2009 4:10:39 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO.
Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.
“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”
Top officials privately concede the past six weeks have taken their toll on Obama's popularity. But the officials also see the new diminished expectations as an opportunity to prove their critics wrong by signing a health care law, showing progress in Afghanistan, and using this month's anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers to push for a crackdown on Wall Street.
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.
“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”
The timing, format, venue and content of Obama's presentation are still being debated in the West Wing. Aides have discussed whether to stick to broad principles, or to send specific legislative language to Capitol Hill. Some hybrid is likely, the officials said.
“I’m not going to put a date on any of this,” Axelrod said. “But I think it’s fairly obvious that we’re not in the second inning. We’re not in the fourth inning. We’re in the eighth or ninth inning here, and so there’s not a lot of time to waste.”
Obama's specifics will include many of the principles he has spelled out before, and aides did not want to telegraph make-or-break demands. But Axelrod and others are making plain that Obama will assert himself more aggressively — a clear sign that the president will start dictating terms to Congress.
"His goal is to create the best possible situation for consumers, create competition and choice," Axelrod said. "We want to bring a measure of security to people who have health insurance today. We want to help those who don't have coverage today, because they can't afford it, get insurance they can afford. And we want to do it in a way that reduces the overall cost of the system as a whole."
Also this fall, Obama wants to slap new regulations on Wall Street firms, a goal that is now considered a higher priority than cap-and-trade energy legislation in the West Wing. White House officials think the legislation will show voters, especially wavering independents, that he is serious about making the culprits of the economic crisis pay. It also helps that it doesn't carry a big price tag, like other Obama priorities.
The president also plans to send Congress a report on Afghanistan by Sept. 24 that is designed to build patience after two months in a row of the highest U.S. casualties since the invasion eight years ago. Aides say they recognize they need to show progress over the next 12 to 18 months, or risk losing the support of key Democrats in Congress, who already have balked at funding Obama’s 20,000-troop buildup.
But health care remains front-and-center in Obama’s fall strategy. “I understand the governing wisdom here in town as to where this is right now,” Axelrod said. “I feel good about where it is right now. I understand that there’s been a lot of controversy. I understand that there’s been a lot of politics. But the truth is, we’re a lot closer to achieving something than many thought possible. People look to the president for leadership on this and other issues. He feels passionately about this, and you can look for him to provide that leadership.”
Obama has been criticized for deciding to cede much of the debate to Capitol Hill -- or, as Axelrod put it, “allow Congress to consider the whole range of ideas.”
“History will judge whether this was right or it was wrong,” Axelrod said. “We feel strongly that it was right. As a result of it, we have broad consensus on over 80 percent of this stuff, and a lot of good ideas about how to achieve the other 20. Now, people are looking to the president and the president is eager to help lead that process of harmonizing these different elements and completing this process so that we can solve what is a big problem in the lives of the American people, for our businesses and our economy.”
White House officials say they are looking forward to "a break from the August break" -- a chance to take back control of the debate after a grim month where news coverage of the issue was dominated by vocal, emotional opponents at lawmakers’ town meetings, railing against the cost and complexity of the plans being debated.
So Obama and Democrats will return from vacation wounded, divided and uncertain of the best way to turn things around. Many Democrats, especially in the House, were spooked over break by the rowdy town hall meetings and flurry of polls showing independent voters skeptical of their leadership and spending plans.
The mood swing is hitting some top leaders hard: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), for instance, is trailing little-known GOP contenders in his re-election race now. The news swing has been no less brutal. There has been saturation coverage of the town halls and rising casualties in Afghanistan -- the latter leading to a big drop in support for the war.
All of this makes for a tumultuous -- and wildly unpredictable -- fall for Obama and his party.
Axelrod said he isn’t worried. “Part of it is born of long experience,” he said. “In Washington, every day is Election Day. I’d be lying to you if I told you I don’t look at polls -- I do. But I’ve also learned that you have to keep your eye on the horizon here and not get bogged down. I am not Polyannish, but I am also not given to the hysteria that's endemic to this town.”
The Communist Caucus will be in fine spirits. They will be back in the New Kremlin and away from those pesky American Citizens. It will be like a breath of fresh air. Ahhh! Drink it in Comrades. Back where the MSM will worship at the throne.
This is both very true and very difficult to get regular, decent people to believe. That is their strength and our weakness.
Second, while you can't be sure, I suspect that the situation is way, way past "triangulation" a la Clinton. Oh, he may do it and pass a watered-down version, but will that save his poll numbers? I doubt it. Many will see this as further evidence that you can't trust him, even to do what he says he "believes" in.
Another fricking speech? More hopey changey?
“The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done”
##########
Is this statement by nimrod supposed to impress us? Zero & his dims are ALL on the low end of the totum pole, & none of them are going to come out squeaky clean or righteous!
I think the article is suspect anyway. He has “shifted strategy” several times now without changing his tune.
They are just rearranging the deck chairs.
” I suspect that the situation is way, way past “triangulation” a la Clinton. “
Exactly...
The point that’s universally missed by politicians (all flavors) and pundits is that this ain’t about “Healthcare Reform” anymore...
It’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back (or the ‘bridge too far’ - choose your own metaphor) — the issue that brought, not just us Conservative Fringe, but the mass of the so-called Independents, to the wall to battle what has become a too-large, too-intrusive, too-uncaring, and too-corrupt and irresponsible, Government....
They woke the frog, and the frog has noticed that the water’s gotten uncomfortably warm....
I don’t think they’ll be able to put the genie back into the bottle by ‘rebranding’, ‘repackaging’ or ‘triangulation’....
If I were to speculate upon a next “crisis” to support Obamas health care pogrom it would realistically be a swine flu fear stimulated my the MSM.
We all know there are laws coming into play about possible quarantines and loss of rights soon about this, its also a potent tool for Obama to capitalize his control over America, he has with this about every possible Presidential advantage to quite literally lock down the country.
This I fear, I truly would fear this, not the flu itself but the demons cashing in on it.
I agree - just change the scenery a little...
So what are we now to think of his passioned defense of HR3200? It is a shame we don't have an independent media to ask such a question.
How much more active can he get? The President had more Prime Time exposure than 'America's Got Talent'. Obama has had prime time infomercials, prime time townhall events, lots of speeches, etc. Obama is already overexposed on this issue, and has little credibility on it.
This is a textbook example of the total absence of leadership. This exercise is doomed to failure.
Please write Sen. Graham and tell him to STOP his “reach across the aisle” crap and start backing the REPUBLICAN SOLUTION!!!!!
Huh? Total psycho-babble.
Don’t let up. The Joker is evil. Any health care bill is a nose under the tent for total government takeover. Elect a congress in 2010 that will start to restore freedom in this once-free country.
Not psycho-babble. Its Marxo-babble.
An ugly look from the Gelding-in-Chief? (I've seen the really ugly side of Barak....and it's Michelle)
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