Oh please, whatever. The White House's personal stenographer penned another direct-from-the-White-House communiqué, this time arguing how great August is turning out for Obama.
Yes, Obama has lost 20 points in the polls, split the party, reinvigorated a dead GOP, caved on his major campaign promises, and AP is now debating whether he's a "wuss." Obama has the Republicans right where he wants them.
Here's a bit of Ambinder's nonsense:
Another irony: the public option debate helped. It helped by offering itself up as a sacrifice. The new Maginot line, drawn by advocates of a single payer system, turned out to be a bit of a feint because it was never the sine qua non of reform. Initially, given the GOP success (aided by progressive elites who essentially agreed) in framing the option as essential to health care, its putative failure and demagoguery seemed to be a significant blow to the White House. But -- and here is the key point -- it became something for the Blue Dogs to "oppose" and thus satisfy their constituents' concerns about reform in general. Sen. Max Baucus's health care plan has been derided by many liberal activists because it seems to be a compromise upon a compromise.
For these activists, the debate itself has been damaging because it exposed the administration's willingness to give voice and legitimacy to sides in this debate that many liberal activists do not believe ought to be afforded those prerogatives, including Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, PhRMA, and the insurers. The charge that Obama didn't stand up for his principals is a hard one to rebut, but the White House would rather have the bill they're probably going to get now and worry about Netroot anxiety later. From the start, the least convincing argument made to the White House about strategy starts with the premise that compromising with recalcitrant Republicans is inherently bad.
With all due respect, this is idiotic, and typical of a lot of the crap we see out of the corporate media when they're not doing their job. The problem much of the country has with President Obama right now is not that he is willing to compromise with his political enemies. It's that he routinely caves to his political enemies. There's a rather huge difference. The first signifies maturity, the second, weakness. No one is complaining that Obama is talking to Republicans. The concern is that he's only talking to Republicans, and seems so desperate for a "win" on every issue that he's willing to cave on any promise, he's willing to accept any GOP proposal, provided it gives him something he can use to claim victory.
Then again, the truth doesn't fit very well in the White House talking points, which tend to criticize, diminish, and otherwise patronize the core of the Democratic party that gave this president his current job. So better for the White House to get their friends in the media to paint Democrats as extremists, and Republicans as folks you can sit down and negotiate with. If the White House is so thrilled with Republicans, perhaps they should rely on them the next time Democrats need help winning an election.
Ambinder notes that the White House says they'll worry later about the Netroots. It's not the Netroots, you idiots. You're at 50% in the polls. People are comparing you to Neville Chamberlain, Jimmy Carter, and Michael Dukakis. Keep deluding yourselves that we're the only ones who have doubts about your character and your backbone, and you truly will end up a one-termer.
One final thing: Ambinder says that the conservatives have shot their wad. There won't be any more noise from them after August. Keep deluding yourselves, folks.
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