Our political Quote of the Day once again comes from Dick Polman who compares some of Prseident Barack Obama’s words in the state of the union address with some of the cold realities of his present political context and governing in general:
His speech ran for 7127 words. Yet the issue that has dominated policy and political discussions over the past year (seemingly to the exclusion of almost everything else), the issue on which Obama has hoped to base his legacy, was mentioned in a mere 516 words. It came up roughly at the midpoint of the speech, and quickly vanished.
Basically, Obama treated health care reform as if it was a fragment of day-old lettuce in an overstuffed deli club sandwich.
Which tells us plenty about how well he fared during his first year in office. He briefly attempted last night to diagnose what has gone wrong: “This is a complex issue, and the longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became. I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people. And I know that with all the lobbying and horse trading, this process left most Americans wondering what’s in it for them.”
AND:
Still, Obama’s original error was to raise expectations, by suggesting during his campaign that he would never engage in, or condone, such practices. Voters should never take such suggestions seriously. That dreamy stuff doesn’t mean squat when it’s time to grind the sausage. That’s not how power works. Back in the mid-’60s, Lyndon Johnson achieved great things with his Great Society domestic agenda in part because he worked the backrooms and cajoled reluctant lawmakers by giving them pork for the folks back home – either that, or he threatened them by vowing not to give them pork.
At the end of his piece he writes this:
The flatulent sound I hear is air leaking slowly out of a balloon. Consider me underwhelmed. The president wants everyone “to take another look.” He says that if anyone has some new ideas, let him know. He says that everyone should “find a way to come together and finish the job,” without so much as offering a clue about what way he deems to be best. Perhaps have the House pass the Senate bill and live with the Senate provisions? Or have the House pass the Senate bill and make changes in a new bill that can pass the Senate via a parliamentary procedure requiring only 51 votes? Does he want to stick with the comprehensive approach, or would he push hard for passage in bits and pieces? He never said, never even hinted. Then he was off the subject entirely, having segued into a rap about deficit reduction.
Obama has every reason to curse the fates. If Ted Kennedy hadn’t died, the current impasse would not be happening, and the obstructionist Senate Republicans would not have won by a score of 41 to 59. But it was Ted’s brother who said, during the final year of his presidency in ’63, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” Politically, and certainly morally, Obama can ill afford to bury health care reform in 516 words. It’s his job now to show leadership and chart the way forward, into the future.
Will he? Make your bets now (and let us know in comments).
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.