Posted on 11/02/2010 5:14:49 AM PDT by markomalley
"We can run on this," David Axelrod, President Obama's chief political strategist, said nine months ago as Congress debated Obamacare. On Tuesday, the president's party appears poised to lose control of the House and to be reduced to dependence on Vice President Joe Biden's tiebreaking vote to retain vestigial power in the Senate. Axelrod's advice surely ranks among the worst campaign miscalculations in American political history. And it is indeed difficult to account for an error of such magnitude without thinking that Obama and Axelrod ignored what they surely could see with their own eyes.
The evidence was certainly there for everybody to see early on. A clear majority of Americans expressed doubts about Obamacare in 2009 as soon as they became aware of its central feature: putting government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. Their doubts solidified into determined opposition during 2009's long hot summer of tempestuous Town Hall meetings. The opposition grew stronger still as the months ticked by despite repeated "new" efforts by Obama and his allies in Congress and the liberal mainstream media to "sell" Obamacare.
It appeared that the Obamacare drive stalled in January when Massachusetts voters put Republican Scott Brown in the Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi persuaded Obama to ignore chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who counseled stepping back, and instead to push forward against all opposition. There followed the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase and other corrupt closed-door deals to buy critically needed Senate votes. Then came Pelosi's infamous "Deem and Pass" rule that forced an up-or-down vote in the House with little debate and no floor amendments even as thousands protested outside the Capitol. Obamacare was thus passed into law, and the opposition began demands for its repeal.
Worried Democrats might have taken solace on the campaign trail in September from Sen. Charles Schumer's July promise that voters would become Obamacare supporters as the measure's initial "benefits" took effect. Instead, the polls showed consistent majorities month after month supporting repeal of Obamacare. Obama said over and over that Americans would be able to keep their private health insurance, but in October thousands of people working for major companies like Boeing and McDonalds discovered it was a hollow promise. As the campaign entered its final weeks, the only Democrats talking about Obamacare were the few who had voted against it.
So here we are. Rasmussen Reports says 58 percent favor repeal of Obamacare. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that 55 percent of voters favor congressional candidates pledged to repeal Obamacare. Facing such bleak prospects, Democrats now can only dream of what might have been had Obama listened to Emanuel instead of Pelosi.
We can run on this”””
They are running-—off to India with 40 airplanes, 700 FBI personnel & 6 limosines.
BINGO!
I was watching Rachel Maddow last night and she basically said that the Dems were willing to pay the short-term price for the long-term goal.
Senators up for re-election in 2012 better see the writing on the wall and vote the will of the people. Some will....I just hope it will be enough.
IMO.....
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