Get ready. A big part of the blogosphere is ready to tell you that this is all due to their efforts and that the president has nothing to do with it.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
And the media is going to tell you that this is all due to the president’s efforts and DFH’s had nothing to do with it.
In truth, if this is real (and ABC is a mite more reliable than Politico), then there is room for a whole lot of people in the White House, in the Congress, and in the blogosphere to take credit.
But guess what, we’re going to have the same sort of controversy over whatever the climate change bill looks like, over financial industry reform, and most of all over Employee Free Choice Act. At this point it is too symbiotic a relationship and one that seems to lead to success.
I really don’t get this monotheist kind of mentality on either side. It’s most likely that the PO wouldn’t have survived this long without pressure from the left. It’s dead certain that it wouldn’t have survived in the face of Obama’s opposition or indifference. There were a lot of other factors, personalities, and random circumstances involved as well. There is pretty much never one cause for anything. What’s the point in pretending otherwise? Too much sports-think, maybe.
Heh. Well, let ’em. Obama didn’t do it alone.
thank you rachel q.
The president has been remained above the fray for most of this, floating this trial balloon and that. yes it is great that he is now pushing it, if that is indeed the case (who knows what the adminisitration will do tomorrow).
but the fact is, if it weren’t for thousands of calls to congress, a lot of them goaded by bloggers like slinkerwink, nyceve, and jane hamsher, he wouldn’t have half the public backing he has for it. The media has been quite happy to portray the shrieking teabggers as the face of “real america”, and if it wasn’t for consistent pushback from people like the above, that would be the story. I’ve seen this myself, up close and personal.
now maybe that was the grand strategy all the time (“make me do it”; “if the people lead, the leaders will follow”) but nobody knows if that is true or not. not even booman.
so while I’m not about to give 100% credit to the blogosphere, I’m sure as fuck not about to give all that credit to the president, who (as booman pointed out just yesterday) refused to draw a line in the sand.
i think the post is a little unfair.
The president made a public option possible. He included it in his plan during the campaign, so his volunteers came to know about it, support it and expect it. He also won with long enough coattails to get us 60 Democrats in the Senate. If we needed a single Republican vote for cloture in the senate, the public option wouldn’t make it.
Even now it is most definitely not a done deal until it arrives on the president’s desk… all it would take would be for something to happen to Byrd or any other Dem senator, and lots of ’em ain’t young. But they do have good medical care. 🙂
It’s pretty good that the Whitehouse confirmed the pay slashing. Be even better if they break up the big banks.
I expected a bigger reaction to Obama’s announcement that the feds will no longer harass growers of medical marijuana in states where it’s legal — a 180 turnaround from Bush. Did the Fox station formerly known as News attack him for destroying civilization? Did the Libertarian Right manage to give him props for doing the right and rational thing — or was that just too hard?
Looks like the Snowe Queen is out.
Christmas might be too soon for your health care reform, peons. The Snowe Queen hath spoken!
Kick her ass to the fucking curb and pass a real bill.
I agree. Snowe is trying to call the shots here, but luckily we have 60 votes and her vote doesn’t mean jack squat. I still have nightmares thinking about 2011-2012 if we lose some Senate seats. We will get nothing done with these Republicans jamming up everything and making demands. Will we get any judges confirmed, for example? We’ve barely confirmed any with the majority we have now.
I think Snowe will talk a lot of shit but vote for the bill if it is going to pass anyway. If it gets 60 Dems, it will get Snowe. Collins will probably vote no, she’s not nearly as moderate as she pretends to be. I’m still upset we didn’t get a better candidate to take her out in 2008.
We’ll see if it happens. That said, you can’t discount the Progressive Caucus and the strong grassroots pressure for a public option. That’s the only thing that has prevented Baucus, Conrad and the Villagers from killing this inconvenient public option idea altogether.
Maybe Obama is saying the same things behind closed doors that he says to supporters at rallies. Or maybe he is saying the same things as his advisors on the Sunday talk shows. Until we know that, we don’t know how much credit he gets for this.
If everybody else folds, Obama doesn’t have to show his hand. No one need ever know how far he was willing to compromise.
A useful position to be in for dealing with other issues.
… with Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.
Go for the jugular. When this ad hits $200K, I might start to relax.
http://www.actblue.com/page/harryreidad
The blogosphere got Jon & Kate back together?
like it’s got a hell of a lot more to do with the efforts of Harry Reid.
Meh. Personally, I couldn’t care less who gets credit, whether they deserve it, etc. I just want it done.
BooMan, I just don’t believe that the Public Option would be alive without the pressure of the blogosphere. it helped.
Activism is a necessary component of any major piece of legislation, especially when you’re taking on the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. But let’s be real. Obama started out with 57 votes in his caucus and no deal from his own party in the Finance Committee. And, he shepherded this through all five committees, flipped Specter, got Kirk seated, and fought the centrists to give him a cloture vote for a bill a bunch of them don’t even support.
I’ve told those that think I’m too harsh on the WH, that if, we get a decent Public Option at the end of all this, I will apologize for being so skeptical.
in case you missed it: franken takes no prisoners
a think of beauty…we could use a few more senators like him.
this is a broadcast note on a little “administrative matter”
PLEASE NOTE,
Sometimes, believe it or not, a person who reads a comment of mine feels moved to e-mail me. And, in fact (I suppose) this happened just recently.
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