re: #125 garhighway

I agree that Obama has been tactically clumsy regarding HCR, but I disagree that pushing for it was a mistake. He ran on it, it was a key campaign promise, and he followed through.

If you think back to the 2008 campaign, Obama’s main planks were HCR, getting out of Iraq, and getting serious about Afghanistan. Much of what he has pushed for since have been improvised responses to changed conditions: the stimulus, the auto bailout, etc…

I think Barry’s point was about the tactics, and the confusion people had about the whole deal.re: #131 garhighway

Tactically, I think he was fighting the last war, in that he was determined not to relive the Hillarycare episode by presenting Congress with a highly detailed plan. Instead, he went all the way to the other extreme and said “I don’t care how you do it, just do it”, which is (and was) an invitation to chaos.

He learned the Hillarycare lesson too well.

Yep. And then he relied upon Nancy Pelosi, who is awful on camera to sell it to the American People. And she made the stupid “pass it to see what’s in it” comment instead of patiently and professionally listing the benefits of the bill/law.