Legal Commentary

What Are We Fighting For?

By Big Tent Democrat

[This is not a post about Afghanistan.]

Politics is the art of the possible. We all understand that. So on health care reform, what are we (as opposed to the pols) fighting for? In my view, we are now fighting for the most progressive health care bill that can get 218 votes in the House and 50 votes in the Senate (a later separate bill can be fashioned that gets 60 votes in the Senate to take care of Ezra Klein's concerns.) To get that, we have to demand much more than that now. And our "negotiators," the Progressive Block, have to be tactically extreme in this process.

But pols, even the Progressive Block pols, are not fighting for that. They fight for their own personal agendas - getting reelected, expanding their political power, etc. John Aravosis writes about the political skin the President has in the game now:

The debate has now shifted to a point that Joe and I had predicted months ago. No longer are we talking policy, but rather, Obama's inability to fight for what he believes in has now turned the debate to a discussion of whether our president is a "wuss." People don't like having discussions about whether their leader is a wuss. The very fact of having the discussion is trouble in and of itself.

. . . There's a rather disturbing trend in this article that the AP writer didn't even notice. On a lot of foreign policy, Obama seems to be quite aggressive and well-liked. But on domestic policy, he's increasingly seen as out of touch and a bit of a "wimp." That describes a previous president by the name of George H.W. Bush. He was a one-termer.

That's what President Obama is fighting for now - not to be seen as a wimp. The Progressive Block is working hard to make sure the President's political machinations on being seen as a "strong leader" directs him to advocating for their point of view, and then winning that fight.

That's the fight.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 06, 2009 (boomark / email).