re: #35 Obdicut

I agree. I think that Obama gave it to congress to do, trusting them to be a good legislative body, and they just flailed around on it and produced something that made him blanch.

I got the distinct feeling when the first health care bills started getting debated, that Obama was furious at the way the legislative leadership had handled it. But that’s just my perception.

I share that perception. I’ll add only that Obama deliberately made Congress come up with their versions first, precisely so he could avoid the debacle of HillaryCare. History showed that going to Congress with a proposal would have meant it got shredded, portrayed as Obama ‘forcing it’ on people (not that it hasn’t been portrayed that way anyway) and nothing would be done.
It’s also essentially how he likes to govern, in my opinion. I expect the exact same strategy w/r/t gay rights— DADT is being overturned in exactly the same way.

Obama probably did expect the legislative leadership to handle HCR a lot better, and imo he was furious. Let’s see what he learns from that.