From Codpiece to Ball-less Wonder

I said at one point that we voted for a leader and got a Chicago politician. I take it back -- Obama wouldn't last two minutes in Chicago politics. From John Aravosis at AmericaBlog, a heads-up on this story from NYT:

By signaling that they would seek to revise existing versions of legislation moving through the House and Senate, administration officials and Democratic leaders in Congress - many of whom had said earlier in the summer that they saw no need to scale back their ambitions - made clear that their political calculations had changed. With Congressional Republicans standing almost unanimously in opposition to the Democratic approach, the target now for Mr. Obama is primarily a handful of moderate Democrats and the one Republican who seems open to a deal, Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine.

“It’s so important to get a deal,” a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to be candid about strategy. “He will do almost anything it takes to get one.”

Aravosis:

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but this doesn't read like determination, it reads like desperation - an admission that Obama will agree to almost anything in order to get "some" deal, any deal. Why admit that fact publicly - as disturbing as it would be privately - and why does this not give the Republicans that much more incentive to go for broke, and either bring the deal down entirely (since Obama is so desperate for it), or so pervert health care reform that it becomes virtually unrecognizable (think: giving away 40% of the stimulus bill as worthless tax cuts in order to buy 3 votes).

I'll go him one better: when you're right, you fight for it. The public option has broad public support, but that no longer means anything, certainly not in the Senate, and apparently not in the White House, either. Update: This just noted from AmericaBlog:

Despite the hammering the issue has taken from Republicans and too many Democrats over the summer, the public option still polls strong according to the latest Research 2000 poll for DailyKos. When asked "Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans?" 58% responded yes. 34% responded no and eight percent were undecided. From Markos:

The public option remains popular, by a nearly 3-2 margin. Seems like people like the idea of competition in the insurance market, that would help lower premiums and keep currently unaccountable insurance companies honest.

What's more, the public option is favored by over a quarter of self-identified Republicans, which is more "bipartisanship" than you'll ever see in DC.

Y'know, it's not all that long ago that the Republicans were telling the Democrats to suck on it while ramming through whatever would benefit their major donors. Now the White House is telling the Democrats the same thing -- while helping the Republicans ram through whatever will benefit their major donors.

It's not just a White House problem. The Senate gives every indication of having become completely nonfunctional, thanks in no small part to the "leadership" of Harry Reid and his reluctance -- or inability -- to whip the Blue Dogs into line. (That name is almost appropriate, but only almost: think in terms of what's wagging what.)

Which leads me to this gem from Sen. Chris Dodd:



Indeed. (And thanks to reader PietB for finding the lost link.)

We wouldn't have a crisis of leadership in this country if we had any leaders.