So what did the (written about ad nauseum including here) recent health care summit that pitted President Barack Obama against his GOP critics accomplish?
As I’ve noted here and elsewhere, it showed (1)both sides had people who did think in terms of substance, (2)the Republicans did have specific ideas despite what some of their critics have said, (3)the philosophical gap between Obama, the Democrats and Republicans is huge and both sides basically dug in their heels so it became more clear than ever that the seemingly vanished onetime virtues of compromise and consensus are still no where to be seen. If the 20th century was an era of political wiggle room, the 21st century is the era of set-in-concrete.
Yesterday mega-bucks-guy and Democratic party supporter George Soros told CNN that Obama has “failed” as a uniter and he now must move to being an aggressive partisan to impliment policies and have a successful presidency. Soros pointed to FDR’s first year, when many felt Roosevelt was wishy washy — and FDR learned from it and became a fierce advocate who battled to get his agenda enacted.
Is that where Obama is headed? On one hand, there are those such as Sarah Palin and others who derisively refer to Obama as a “professor” or “professorial” — yet another sign of how in the 21st century things that were once considered virtues are now used as negatives. On the other hand there is no one undisputable fact:
It is now clear that Barack Obama was not happy with the GOP’s subtext at the health care reform summit and the accuracy of some of their charges. How do we know that?
We know that now by this facinating CNN report from Candy Crowley who gives us a glimpse into the unaired reactions of Obama as GOPers were talking.
When you watch this you have to conclude: you can now bet money that Obama is deciding it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy and that he is going to head into a new phase. Of course, that could be an inaccurate reading.
But this video below doesn’t show someone who is being manipulated by the opposition, being snowed, or who is naive that he’s facing steadfast opposition. Rather, it seemingly shows someone who is losing his patience. View it for yourself and reach your own conclusions:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.