Hullabaloo

Friday, December 11, 2009

 
Owning It

by digby

On Hardball today:

Republican strategist John Feehery: He'll sign anything that the congress comes up with on health care. Anything. He's never used the veto word.

Matthews: Anything?

Feehery: Anything.

Matthews: Why would he do that?

Feehery: Because he wants any kind of accomplishment on health care. On that he has absolutely no ideological bearing whatsoever. He'll sign anything.

The problem is the Democratic Congress can't get anything done because they're incompetent.

That's harsh. And it may not be true because the congress actually seems to be getting something done, although it's one step forward two steps back, so "incompetent" may be an accurate description. I would say the jury's still out.

But that dynamic he describes, of the president just wanting to get this "accomplishment" under his belt regardless of what it means, is correct in my view. If the final bill is good and people see it as good (not necessarily the same thing) there will be big benefits for him for 2012 and he will have accomplished something huge and historic. If the bill is initially received badly and then in later years is improved upon, he will be seen in the eyes of history as having done something huge and historic, but it won't help him --- or the Democrats -- in the short term. If it comes out badly and results in a political upheaval and the reforms are repealed he'll be seen as a terrible failure. The stakes are very, very high for him. To tie yourself to such a massive overhaul and not care about the substance just strikes me as odd. Do they think they can finesse everything?

Maybe they can. But I'd be very, very afraid of signing any bill that doesn't result in some immediate and obvious positive improvements. Obama isn't FDR, who had some years as president under his belt and the deep loyalty of a large majority before he passed social security. People had already adjusted to the idea that the "market" wasn't their savior and saw government as an answer not an obstacle. Americans today aren't there yet by a long shot.

I would have thought any president would want to make sure that his signature legislation was something he could be sure would work and would result in many political benefits. But maybe he has so much faith in Reid, Pelosi and the industry devils to whom he sold his soul that he believes it will all come out just fine in the end. I hope he's right.



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digby 12/11/2009 05:00:00 PM |