Posted on 03/06/2010 1:16:12 PM PST by neverdem
It is now exactly a year since President Obama unveiled his health care push and his decision to devote his inaugural year to it—his branding year, his first, vivid year.
What a disaster it has been.
At best it was a waste of history’s time, a struggle that will not in the end yield something big and helpful but will in fact make future progress more difficult. At worst it may...
--snip--
Does anyone believe this? Does anyone who knows the ways of government, the compulsions of Congress, and how history has played out in the past, believe this? Even a little? Rep. Bart Stupak said Thursday that he and several of his fellow Democrats won’t vote for the Senate version of the bill because it says right there on page 2,069 that the federal government would directly subsidize abortions. The bill’s proponents say this isn’t so. It would be a relief to have a president who could weigh in believably and make clear what his own bill says. But he seems to devote more words to obscuring than clarifying.
The only thing that might make his assertions sound believable now is if a group of congressional Republicans were standing next to him on the podium and putting forward a bill right along with him. Which, obviously, won’t happen, for three reasons. First, they enjoy his discomfort. Second, they believe the bill is not worth saving, that at this point no matter what it contains—and at this point most people can no longer retain in their heads what it contains—it has been fatally tainted by the past year of mistakes and inadequacies.
And the third reason is that the past decade has taught them what a disaster looks like, and they’ve lost their taste for standing next to one.
(Excerpt) Read more at peggynoonan.com ...
Has Peggy pulled her head out?
Wow..someone kidnapped the Obama-worshipping’ Peggy Noonan and put the ol’ Peggy Noonan in her place.
heh
And the third reason is that the past decade has taught them what a disaster looks like, and they’ve lost their taste for standing next to one.
For what Noonan writes here I hate myself for violating the oath I made not to read her stuff. Noonan still doesn't get it. She thinks we somehow enjoy Obama's discomfort. Oh, my gosh. How out of touch is Noonan? We HATE what Obama is doing to America!
Proving once again, that elitist Noonan is still writing for the cocktail party set.
There is something way off balance in the character of Barack Obama. Something in the realm of zealotry, with a touch of megalomania, and perhaps an authoritarian impulse too. He combines Alinskyite tactics and outlook with an air of self-assumed moral superiority in a way that fails to respect the usual, small 'r' republican limits on American presidents. All presidents, of course, think at some level that they know best about policy choices. But almost none of them (Woodrow Wilson perhaps excepted) were so willing to disdain, in pursuit of such radical policy upheavals, such intense and overwhelming public opinion as has been evident in the current health takeover attempt.Grandiose plans are one thing. Most presidents fall prey to them. It's another thing entirely, though, to refuse to accept the ordinary republican restraints on implementing grandiosities without public support, and furthermore to do so by A) bending existing rules; B) directly violating multiple personal pledges; C) ignoring constitutional limits; D) directly lying; and E) demanding that other politicians sacrifice their own political careers.
She’s continuosly surprised by him because she is a shallow elitist snob; but so is he. Believe it, Peggy; you’re birds of a feather.
She is not only a RINO lefty but she is a bore. I stopped reading her crap years ago.
actually, I DO enjoy his discomfort. There’s something simply grand about watching the Peter Principle unfold before your eyes.
It’s about the bill Obama’s trying to pass no how uncomfortable he is...It’s real simple, “QUIT SPENDING MONEY”!!! How dare the government take my money and spend on abortions!!! I don’t believe in abortion and I should not spend my money to make it happen!!! It’s that simple!!!
You stupid woman! We don't want these lunatics to be able to make any progress. And stop using that stupid word "broken." It conveys nothing. Honestly, these people are so stuck in their NY/Beltway mentality that they have no idea what is going on with normal America.
Agree 100%. Every nitwit political elitist in DC sees everything through political “glasses”, a perversion that does not appear to register with ANY of them. This healthcare “reform” is nothing more than a giant leap toward a socialist state, it has nothing to do with placing another notch on a post simply because communist-loving demonrats felt “discomfort”. Idiot.
Peggy are you MISSING the fact that Hussein Care has nothing to do with either health or care??? It is a clear attempt to enslave the American people. Or can you simply not believe that possible of your “post partisan”, “post racial” hero??!!
Uh...this is what he campaigned on Peggy. Did you think it was a mistake during the campaign? Don't think so.
it will lower the long term deficit by a trillion dollars. Does anyone believe this? Does anyone who knows the ways of government, the compulsions of Congress, and how history has played out in the past, believe this?
So why did you back Ozero during the campaign again, Peggy? He has been reciting this lie all along. NOW you seem all-wise about how Gov't works?
This woman is a fraud.
The very LAST thing America needs is a "successful" presidency by a socialist (or "progressive" or whatever you want to call him).
What a friggin' idiot this woman is.
Exactly. And she’s an intellectual disaster. This right-of-center country needs this ‘progressive’ president to be successful—when he’s hell-bent on destroying everything about it?
If only he’d been a little more solicitous of the Republicans in Congress he could have succeeded? That’s in some ways all too true an assessment, but it would have been a national, and hence global, disaster.
Ideology matters. It’s what Obama and politics are about, it’s what our country has woken up to, it’s what the tea parties are about. All this frou-frou and other stuff is beside the point.
Just as Obama may have re-energized the right for the next decade, if Obamacare does indeed die, it may have woken the Pubbie Congress coming in to actually getting government distortions out of our healthcare industry—so that it can be better and more accessible than ever.
A failed Obama may be the very best thing for this country indeed.
The funny thing is it messed up Clinton’s first year too!
You were more succinct than I.
As a matter of fact, virtually ALL of the pundits and media types were sucking up to Obama because they hoped to be favored by him and get on the inside track. They figured that he’d be in charge for the foreseeable future, and they wanted an in with him.
And the big joke on them is that he despises them all. He looks down his nose at every one of them, conservatives and liberals alike. He uses them, on his own terms, and then he throws them right back out the door.
So he’s had endless media appearances, and has cost the networks a bundle in prime-time takeovers, but hasn’t had a real press conference or a real interview since last July.
How’s that working for you, Peggy?
Unfortunately, they have another year to make up for it...
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