“Because he’s made it such an issue, and because he has invested so much personal time and effort, this will, more than stimulus and more than anything he has done so far, be a measure of his clout and of his success early on,” Daschle was quoted in the New York Times. “And because it is early on, it will define his subsequent years.” – Will Obama’s health care plan mirror the 1994 Clinton failure?
First take away from Obama’s press conference: Cambridge police acted “stupidly” when they arrested Prof. Skip Gates.
OBAMA: Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little bias ed here. I don’t know all the facts. What’s been reported, though, is that the guy forgot his keys. He jimmied his way to get into the house. There was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. so far so good. Right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger in — well, I guess this is my house now so it probably wouldn’t happen. Let’s say my old house in Chicago. here I’d get shot. But so far so good. They’re reporting, the police are doing what they should. There’s a call. They go investigate what happens. My understanding is at that point Professor Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in. I’m sure there’s some exchange of words but my understanding is that Professor Gates then shows his I.D. to show that this is his house. And at that point he gets arrested for disorderly conduct, charges which are later dropped. Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that’s just a fact.
We could have done without “number two.”
Second take away: Obama gets letters from people about their health care woes.
Now, it may or may not be true about the Cambridge police, but Obama proved he was well off his game by handing the press (and his adversaries) this beauty.
I’m glad the President gets letters that inspire him to work on “health insurance reform,” his new term for the fight. I just wish he’d told their stories.
It illustrates that you can’t sell health care reform if you don’t have a passion for its purpose.
Between Barack Obama and Kathleen Sebelius, who has vanished from TV because she’s lousy on it, we have two people who just don’t communicate the urgency and real benefits of a national health care system. Together they don’t make one Teddy Kennedy or even a Howard Dean.
I saw Elizabeth Edwards on Rachel Maddow’s show tonight. Oh, if only she was the one on point on health care. She gets it and knows the details and the people behind the statistics. Too bad Obama couldn’t see her through the baggage her book and husband would bring along with her. Elizabeth Edwards would have put fear into the Republicans on the subject. She’s bullet proof.
So, here we are. Durbin says no pre-recess vote, while Republicans are planning to draw out Sotomayor’s vote in the Senate, making sure all the members speak about her, which will eat up time. While Pelosi remains tough and is pushing for members to work through recess.
And whatever Obama hoped to accomplish tonight, he missed by a mile.
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