White House bails on Keynes, goes supply side

[30ashopper]

We did get the credit card reform bill through. That was very popular legislation. Unfortunately for both parties, it was one of the very few bipartisian bills that passed the House and Senate. I guess neither can use it as a win. Maybe if the dems had pushed more legislation like this, they wouldn't be facing landslide losses in two months.

 

[futurebeachbum]

I agree with the premise that Obama squandered his political capital on Health Care. But two things helped shape this outcome-

1) Republicans and Fox News very effectively spread nonsensical rhetoric in the form of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt- e.g. death panels, communism/socialism, etc.) and they pushed the true shortcomings of the bill to the forefront

2) The Obama administration and democrats in general did a piss poor job of communicating the merits of the bill to the public and disspelling the FUD and when behind the 8 ball they pushed the bill through in a manner that came off very underhandedly to the masses- which provided even more fodder to the right

On point #1, I'm not sure about the first part because I don't watch Fox, but I don't see "they pushed the true shortcomings of the bill to the forefront" as a criticism.

On point#2, It seemed to me that Obama completely ceded the illusion of leadership and involvement to Reid and Pelosi. Then Pelosi appeared ready to pass the bill at all costs. That taken with the public's apprehension about the impact of the bill, the 2000 pages nobody read and the massive boost in power it gave the IRS didn't put any of the Democratic leadership in a particularly favorable light.

 

[Geo]

Regarding your second paragraph- I don't disagree.

Regarding the first one- believe it or not, I wasn't criticizing. Just doing my own wrap up. There were plenty of shortcomings with the bill. Point those out on top of making folks think the bill is communist and the dems are doomed. That's what I saw happened.

Disagree?

 

[idlewind]

Regarding your second paragraph- I don't disagree.

Regarding the first one- believe it or not, I wasn't criticizing. Just doing my own wrap up. There were plenty of shortcomings with the bill. Point those out on top of making folks think the bill is communist and the dems are doomed. That's what I saw happened.

Disagree?

I don't disagree but I think the analysis could be explained further. The "right" publicized their belief the the bill was socialist and that fired up their base. But the "true shortcomings" of the bill began to come to light and that drew independents/center to give a close look to the bill as well. Then Reid and Pelosi began to buy votes and use underhanded methods to advance the bill and in the process lost more of the country. There was never any serious attempt at bipartisanship and it was exposed that the congressmen had not even read what they were voting on. All these factors combined led to one unpopular bill.

 

[Geo]

I can't say I disagree but I do feel the need to clarify that both sides are absolutely to blame for a lack of bipartisanship. I think of two children behaving badly.

Obama and the dems were arrogant using "we won the election" as their MO. And the republicans with wanting healthcare to be "obama's Waterloo".

 

[30ashopper]

I can't say I disagree but I do feel the need to clarify that both sides are absolutely to blame for a lack of bipartisanship. I think of two children behaving badly.

Obama and the dems were arrogant using "we won the election" as their MO. And the republicans with wanting healthcare to be "obama's Waterloo".

Bush tried the same thing post 2004 to get ss privatization through. He didn't have much luck. Granted dems got oc passed, but it'll cost them dearly.