The first step in White House strategy was when unnamed officials told the Washington Post, August 19, 2009, how surprised and caught off guard Obama was the the main focus of Obamacare became the "public option".
"I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo," said a senior White House adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We've gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don't understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform."
"It's a mystifying thing," he added. "We're forgetting why we are in this."
I think many were just waiting for the other show to drop and now it has.
Via The Politico:
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.
“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”
August has not been friendly to Obama's polling numbers nor to the politicians who had the job of trying to sell the public option and Obamacare to their constituents.
Townhalls across America showed the people coming out in masses to oppose it.
If Obama and the Democrats want any type of healthcare legislation, they needed to adjust their course and deal with it before it became an even hotter topic and cost all of them more numbers and cost them their reelection chances, especially vulnerable Democrats in conservative districts.
The latest news that Obama will not insist on public option and is "willing to stare down his own party" was not unexpected at all, especially given his historically fast drop in approval ratings.
Yet the the far far left liberals are still managing to act surprised and beating their chests in anger.
Reactions
FireDogLake titles their piece with "White House Admits the Public Option is Gone, Will Sistah Soulja the Left."
The White House is making the calculation that the hit they suffer when they drop the public plan is only with the "far left," that they can survive that and actually use it to their advantage by triangulating against "the blogs."
Talk Left:
If true, President Obama will be insuring a dispirited Democratic base in 2010. The Village will love him. Dems? Not so much. If it happens, the Democrats could very well lose the House in 2010. The Progressive Block will have to save Obama from himself.
AmericaBlog with a bit of sheer fantasy:
Considering it was the falling out with the liberal base that was the precursor to the public at large talking about whether the president has the backbone for the job, it's not entirely clearly how picking a larger fight with that base is somehow going to resuscitate Obama's sinking poll numbers, and damaged brand:
I call that fantasy because it has been shown in poll after poll that it is with Independents, those not affiliated with either party, where Obama has seen the largest drop in approval ratings.
CNN, just yesterday:
Fifty-three percent of independents questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday say they disapprove of how Obama's handling his duties in the White House, with 43 percent in approval. That result marks the first time in a CNN poll that a majority of independents give the president's performance a thumbs-down.
Obama's overall approval rating of 53 percent is down 3 points from a month ago, and down 8 points from June. Forty-five percent of those questioned disapprove, up 5 points from a month ago and up 8 points from June.
According to the poll, nine in 10 Democrats approve of the job Obama's doing, up three points from a month ago, with 15 percent of Republicans approving, down 8 points.
"Obama won a majority of the vote among independents last year, and that helped put him in the White House," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Losing their support makes it more difficult for Obama to govern from the center."
Elderly and upper income as well, according to Gallup which we linked two days ago.
Approval among seniors, upper-income Americans has fallen below 50%
So much for the fantasy that it is liberal unhappiness that was the "precursor" to the public's disapproval.
Just a small sample of the reactions from the left to the latest out of the White House.
I guess we will have to wait and see as Obama plans, yet another, prime time speech to once again pitch his Obamacare plan to the American public. Like they have been real helpful up to this point right?
Oh, and the new season of shows are starting on different networks... wonder if he is going to preempt them as well, thereby angering some people that weren't angry already.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say something not many on this site will hear often... Obama is right.
That stop ya?
Let me expand.
Basic addition 101, add the demographics for the elderly, add Independents and moderates and then total those considered the far far left liberals and what you have is a no brainer.
Obama loses the farthest of the left but gains even portions of the other three groups, he comes out ahead.
The only ones that disagree and pretend they cannot do the basic addition, are the far far left fringe liberals.
Although at this point, he has disappointed so many, so fast, I am not sure he can gain his momentum back.
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