Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health, said in one of the Sunday morning shows that the public option is “not an essential part” of President Obama’s attempt to reform healthcare. This essentially means that the sweeping revamp of the system Obama had promised and pressed Congress on for so long is now just a “ehh, maybe, who knows.” Her office later recanted, saying she “misspoke” and would never mean what she said. Of course the public option will stay, they say, it is what Obamacare is all about. But it doesn’t look that way.
Call this the first genuine gaffe of the Obama administration. Not because it’s something that should have never come out of an administration official–especially after the string of brutal weeks full of negative publicity DC has met during its supposed recess–but because it showed weakness at such a pivotal time.
There are convincing rumors out there that the public option is indeed on its way out. It may be the case because Obama wants to punch a hole in the Republican argument, or may just be that he overestimated America’s thirst for change. Whatever the case, if the public option is pulled, this will be much more a band aid than a surgery on a massive problem. The victory will be for the GOP.
It is hard not to sympathize with the president. He is up against an enemy that few other presidents ever face, let alone at such an early point in his term. Obama is up against anger, focused, manufactured anger. Townhalls are becoming mob headquarters, and the media is a megaphone for hecklers and ramblers. See below:
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Obama is now forced to campaign not only for his brain child, his potentially first transformative master stroke of policy, but his first term. A loss of this magnitude would only be salvaged by a booming economy. Unfortunately for Obama, the latter is something he has to wait and see, possibly until 2010. So far, people aren’t biting on that either. Months of victory dancing from the GOP would effectively destroy whatever honeymoon Obama was holding on to. He’s always welcome in the rest of the world, however. They are all probably asking themselves, “Really? Really, US, really?”
The fight for healthcare reform can only be won with good ol’ politickin’. Obama used his sweet talk to win the presidency, and later to rally enough support for his economic stimulus. Now, his baby needs him once more. Obama’s superpower is his rhetorical ability, and that might be the only thing that could let him keep his luster for what’s left of this year.
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Tags: gop · healthcare · obama1 Comment
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