Posted by
Bill Crawford on Friday, August 21, 2009 2:13:51 PM
Every human is capable of growth and adjustment. I think Obama is quite capable of that, but the direction he will have to go in, in order to slow or stop the bleeding of independent voters this summer, may prove to be totally unacceptable to the base that elected him in part because of two decades of boiling frustration.
I don't think they will allow him to become a pragmatist past a certain point. Hence, his rapid burial of the trial balloon last week of putting forward a health care proposal without the "public option".
Whatever he is going to do, he has to do now. Next year is an election year, and there will be no action on something this large with that looming over them.
The Senate will probably stay in their hands in 2011, due to the number of Republicans in elective rotation and the impending retirements commited to already. But if Obama and the Hill Democrats continue on this course, and continue to stuff this thing in the face of the voters, especially the seniors, there will be a Republican House in 17 months.
It is that bad. I understand why they feel the need to act on all this stuff, and act now. But America is a supertanker of a ship, and you can't make a left turn like that in such a short time frame, even if that's ultimately what the voters want. You can't get too far ahead of the people.