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February 25, 2010
Summary of the ObamaCare Summit
Posted by The MaryHunter at February 25, 2010 2:55 PM
Not what you'd call a very awesome day for the Hopeychange. In a word, what was predicted last Sunday over at Hope 'n Change pretty much came to pass, right in front of a rapt American TV/web audience:
Or, as NRO has dubbed it, "The Summit to Nowhere."
[A]n important part of the Democrats' problem is that Obama himself is their only star, and this format is not working for him. He certainly seems engaged and well informed (even given a few misstatements of fact, at least one of which John Kyl made very clear.) But he doesn't seem like the President of the United States--more like a slightly cranky committee chairman or a patronizing professor who thinks that saying something is "a legitimate argument" is a way to avoid having an argument. He is diminished by the circumstances, he's cranky and prickly when challenged, and he's got no one to help him. The other Democrats around the table have been worse than unimpressive. The Republicans seem genuinely well-prepared, seem to have thought through the question of who should speak about what rather carefully, and several of them have done quite a good job making their case against the Democrats' approach. If we were to judge by debating points, Republicans certainly won the morning handily.
It's easy to dismiss all this by saying no one is watching anyway, but that's not quite true. The purpose of this spectacle is not so much to move the public as to move Democratic members of Congress--to create some momentum that might last long enough to help wavering Democrats cast a very painful vote. That audience very likely is watching, and they are seeing their leadership fail to make a straightforward case for the Democratic approach to health care, or to respond to the most basic Republican objections about high costs, excessive spending, overregulation, and the effect of this plan on American families. They are managing to lose an argument about health care to Republican members of Congress--no mean feat.
On a prickly tip from TED.
