United States of Olympia Snowe.
Jodi Schneider told me Sunday 22 that the Senate healthcare reform debate and voting will not meet POTUS deadline of the end of the year, and that the calendar looks like January and February will be dominated by the State of the Union, healthcare reform, and possibly a revival of the cap and trade legislation. James Taranto, WSJ, agreed that the healthcare reform will not be rushed, that February is likely the target. At the same time, Harry Reid has given up on Joe Lieberman, and, according to Jodi Schneider, will bring his earmarks to the wholesome state of Maine to see if he can purchase or lease attention from the United States of Olympia Snowe for the 60th vote needed to break the certain filibuster by the GOP.
Olympia Snowe feels very much betrayed by Reid and the Democrats, you can tell. She spent the better part of Summer 2009 (and who knows how much before) trying to get the best bill possible out of the Senate Finance Committee and then the merged bill was not close to what she had worked for. I think that rather than Reid trying to buy Snowe, he ought to listen to her. She's the brains of the organization as far as I can tell. He ought to go humbly to her door and say how do I solve this dilemma, and she'll suggest a compromise that will break the filibuster without breaking the country. I don't completely trust Lieberman, but I do trust Snowe for some reason. If she ends up betraying me I probably won't ever trust another politician again.
Interestingly, it’s all about POTUS – and not in the way you’d expect. POTUS, I would bet, does not know what’s in the bill, nor does he care. All he seems to care about is that the bill be passed by a certain date (sometime before the mid-term elections). Obama clearly expects to be basking in the glory of having conquered this ‘Hamburger Hill’.
Why does he want it so badly? Because he sees the health care issue as confirmation of his personal power and efficacy in bringing policy to bear; it represents (in his eyes) the validation of his (self-imposed) mandate to transform our nation to comply with his own alien vision. Those who support him are relatively few in number, but are rabid in their beliefs and extremely well organized. They fall into one of two categories: (1) those who share the president’s Utopian vision; and, (2) those who hate their country so much that they would support anything or anybody who promises to either change it or kill it outright. A third category that had been prominent leading up to the presidential inauguration - but has been rapidly deflating - consists of those who comprise the ranks of Lenin’s ‘useful idiots’.
As I have stated in earlier threads, POTUS' interest in health care reform is confined to targeting two birds with the same stone: (1) It would bankrupt the nation and therefore drive a stake into the heart of the economy; and, (2) It will likely do irreparable damage to representative government in America. By the time this is over, Congress will have divested itself of any shred of credibility, by which the executive branch can only stand to benefit. Imagine any POTUS finding himself no longer fettered by the people’s will!
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
You and I have very different views of Obama, Peter. You view him as some sort of evil genius with a plot to take over the U.S. I see him as sort of an Officer Barbrady character ... do -de-do-de-do Let's see how Congress is coming along on that health care thing ..... do-de-do-de-do ... Well, they're going to pass it soon, that's very good. This sure is fun being President.
Meanwhile his approval ratings go down faster than a cheerleader at a frat house party.