The Hill: What happened to the new plan?
posted at 10:12 am on September 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
The Hill locks onto an aspect of the President’s speech that escaped me during my earlier analysis, which is the expectation that Barack Obama would bring his own plan to Capitol Hill. The White House had told the press last week that Obama would take charge of the debate by offering a new plan that would address many of the concerns raised in the debate and assume leadership of the crusade. What happened to the Obama plan? It turned out to be a no-show:
President Barack Obama’s address to Congress on healthcare reform was short on specifics and long on ideas he and his advisers had already floated this year.
The historic speech left some liberals wanting more details and conservatives emboldened to torpedo the president’s top domestic priority. …
Still, while the speech once again illustrated the president’s extraordinary oratory skills, it was not a game changer and appears to leave the president with the same quandary: Healthcare has become the pinnacle legislative issue of his first term, but has divided his party in Congress and run into almost universal GOP opposition. Polls suggest Americans are not convinced reform will help their lives and it is unclear whether the legislation Obama seeks will reach his desk.
Obama was expected to take the wheel on healthcare reform after the Democratic-led Congress drove it into a ditch over the summer, but it did not appear he did so.
The White House blew expectation management with this speech. They built this up as the moment that Obama would wrest control of the debate from the partisans of both parties and return it to the middle, where Americans want to see real reform without massive government intervention. That set-up strongly implied that Obama had become dissatisfied not just with the tone of the debate but also the direction of legislation.
Even if Obama didn’t have his own plan at the ready, he had an outlet to claim the middle. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) just produced his own plan, one which keeps mandates but eliminates the public option, a component that has gotten less support from the administration in the last couple of weeks. Had Obama wanted, he could have just pointed to the Baucus plan as a start on a reasonable compromise. Instead, Obama never mentioned Baucus once in his speech, and doubled down on the public option instead.
Given the White House preparation for the press on this speech, it suggests that no one there has a clue what they’re doing on health-care reform, least of all the President himself. One day they’re insisting that the public option isn’t essential, then it is, then it’s not again, and then the President demands it on national television. They’ll have their own plan, they claim, and then Obama’s speech has no specifics but instead endorses HR3200.
If there’s a strategy involved here, it’s inscrutable. The only argument the White House appears to be making at the moment is one of incompetence, especially in messaging, and a growing sense of desperate flailing.
Update: On the center-left, Eric Black agrees that this was no game-changer. Eric thinks Obama tried to do too much in one speech. Be sure to read it all.
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You just can’t stand that ol’ Constitution, can you?
I have to cling to it or you fascists will take it away.
mankai on September 10, 2009 at 10:42 AM
I liked Palin’s response. She nailed him this morning. She’s now talking to him like he’s got a dialogue going with just her.
*haha
Smart move.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Ed, can you do some trollhouse cleaning here?
And what the hell happened to gotmylifeback?
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
It’s time for Biden to have a talk with the President.
“Look behind you Mr. President…no one is following.”
I understand that is one of his better lines.
PappaMac on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
How do you propse a plan that will cost $900,000,000,000 and not add to the Federal Deficit? Lying is easy for Obama. Math is hard.
kingsjester on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
This blog sounds like Hitchcock’s movie the BIRDS with all these chichens coming home to roost.
I never realized that these trolls could fly before.
bluegrass on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
propse=propose
kingsjester on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
He should be wary of trying to scapegoat her so specifically. She’s got time now and energy to make it turn into a positive.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM
A minor quibble, but we are the center. Libs keep shifting the goalposts further left each year, and the “center” gets re-defined–by them. No more. It’s a subjective term, and I subject it to what I wish. I’m a centrist.
In any case, its the socialists/communists, vs. the Americans. So whoever Eric is, he leans towards socialism/communism.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Knuckle, Lady, you asked for it.
-Back by popular demand.
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 10:44 AM
The troll is back, thread hijacked and officially dead.
Knucklehead on September 10, 2009 at 10:45 AM
2 wars, war on terror, Sep 11th tomorrow, worst recession since the Great Depression, joint session of Congress.
No mention of those issues.
No new plan.
He called us liars.
Where are the jobs?
faraway on September 10, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Wow, What a witty comeback!!! I know I’m convinced.
And FYI – they won’t let me buy a bazooka.
mjk on September 10, 2009 at 10:45 AM
How can she? She’s watching their dreams of the perfect Marxist future go down the drain and she can’t say anything.
mkm19602000 on September 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Is your real name Sybil?
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Watch the language! There may be lawyers reading.
mankai on September 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
There’s no reason for the money issue to be the decider in voter’s minds. Wars cost. Being global cop costs. We get something back for those dollars, too. Ditto for this.
What people have to decide is what’s best to bring down the cost of healthcare. Truly, people should have to choose between mortgage or insurance bill.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
“Just words…? Just speeches…?”
Akzed on September 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Do you like her policies (which ones), or just that she’s a woman? To like Palin and Hillary is to like Reagan and Obama. Identity politics much?
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Hear, hear! I am a moderate, centrist, independent Palin supporter.
ElectricPhase on September 10, 2009 at 10:47 AM
Obama seems to have no idea of how Congress works, having spent so little time there. He seems to think that because he has a “gift” for oratory, everybody in Congress will just roll over and vote for “his” massive health-care reform bill, regardless of the cost and who might get hurt.
In Chicago, Obama always led his adoring fans by at least 50 IQ points, so he could fool them with impunity, and he can’t comprehend that voters in the rest of the country aren’t stupid, and their Congress critters can’t just shove any old piece of junk down their throats just because the Great One said so.
Senator Baucus’ plan is actually more insidious than Obama’s plan, because it would fine people for not having health insurance, while not providing any alternative, which could provide an incentive for employers to drop health insurance for employees and pay a (cheaper) fine.
But Baucus’ plan MIGHT pass Congress, because voters haven’t caught on to it yet, and haven’t organized vocal opposition to it yet. Politics IS the art of the possible, trying to get enough votes for what CAN be passed, while throwing a few bones to the opposition, or at least to the “mushy middle”, instead of insisting on one’s own idea of perfection and getting nothing.
Obama seems to be over-reaching, by insisting on his own way, rather than working out the details with Congress, where his party has commanding majorities, making the same mistake that George W. Bush made in 2005-06. This is fortunate for conservatives in this case, but can conservatives get a President in 2012 who, like Reagan, can work with Congress to pull the country in the right direction, even if he has to settle for less than what he wants?
Steve Z on September 10, 2009 at 10:47 AM
You mean because I caught on to mandatory? I’m for public option, and I thought mandatory would go with that. That’s fair.
But to keep the mandatory part and toss out the public option?
Man, that’s screwy!
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:47 AM
she’s a hilbot. She’s triangulating for the dragon woman. They think they can still do that and we’ll be stupid enough to fall for it again.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:48 AM
I’m not really a Palin fan… but that was a very good response… I’m starting to warm to her.
mankai on September 10, 2009 at 10:48 AM
“That’s the change they need.”
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 10:48 AM
What? Where?
Count to 10 on September 10, 2009 at 10:48 AM
These are relative terms. If you’re center, then I’m the toothfairy.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
thats what TXMom was saying about you.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
They don’t have a clue what they’re doing period. Why should this be any surprise?
crazy_legs on September 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
See you Saturday.
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Kicked butt by barely beating an unpopular RINO during a year in which all of the planets were aligned in his favor?
I’d laugh but I’m afraid that once I started I might not be able to stop.
Bishop on September 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
you’re getting closer. When you start reaching insane, stop.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:49 AM
not. my plans changed. I’m not going.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:50 AM
He always tries to do too much. And just hopes a little with stick somewhere. As to His not having a plan. What’s new there. The man has never written a piece of legislation in his life, much less ever worked to get it passed.
GarandFan on September 10, 2009 at 10:51 AM
She won this round. No question. She used inflammatory language. Then, she timed a very succinct explanation of the reason for the term, “death panels.” She was in control of the news, for once. Then, she follows up by acknowledging that he’s talking to her. *haha And issues a very reasonable response.
People who underestimate her are silly. You can see what she’s about when she’s calling the plays instead of having to react to the press.
She’s doing pretty darn good. I don’t agree with her on several major policies. But I sure do like watching her political moves. She’s way fun, in my mind.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:52 AM
I was looking forward to meeting you.
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Say what?
Knucklehead on September 10, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Last night’s speech got to you, eh?
/sarc
mankai on September 10, 2009 at 10:54 AM
AnninCA used to comment on NQ, Liberal Rapture, The Confluence. Mostly small liberal blogs that were hardline behind Hillary Clinton. Ann’s specialty is disarm and disinform. She bakes you an apple pie, while sticking a shiv into your side. A kindly grandmother with a poisoned apple–and philosophically and temperamentally nuts to boot. Beware.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Barry’s strategery: Pass something, anything, NOW!
Christien on September 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Again, they need to do one thing at a time, not eat the whole pie in one bite. Starting with Tort Reform!
Obama – all heil, I mean hail, the Great Divider! I mean Uniter…
kirkill on September 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
same here
big sad face
blatantblue on September 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Where were the trolls yesterday on the Thomas Friedman “Too-bad-we’re-not-a-one-party-autocracy thread?
Akzed on September 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Ann? Is this true???
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
thanks. ditto.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:55 AM
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:52 AM
And Barack didn’t use inflammatory language? Your blinders are thick.
kirkill on September 10, 2009 at 10:57 AM
SMACKDOWN OF THE DAY!!!!!
AnninCA=women’s studies major. Anything ‘feminine’ she loves; anything not gender neutral she hates. Therefore, Bush=bad, Hillary=good, Obama=bad, Palin=good.
battleoflepanto1571 on September 10, 2009 at 10:57 AM
JellyToast on September 10, 2009 at 10:57 AM
This speech was the equivalent of the Dukes yelling “turn those machines back on!!!” Well, it’s too late, you can’t turn them back on, Barry, and you have just lost everything.
rockmom on September 10, 2009 at 10:58 AM
actually, my wife has to work, and I don’t want to take the kids alone.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 10:58 AM
LOL* I think that was actually a compliment. I’m forthright about my political positions.
It’s quite easy to figure me out, in terms of positions. I don’t at all try to fool anyone.
I do try to be polite and respect others. I suppose that’s my “apple pie.”
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:58 AM
So was I JD…I’ve been trying to find a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms for you.
Pity…hope all is well.
Well barring the wife having to cover down at GHQ I’ll be there….where is the Hotair Official meet going to be at and roughly when?
sven10077 on September 10, 2009 at 10:59 AM
I suspect she’s still pissed over Van Jones getting the ‘heave-ho’.
CPT. Charles on September 10, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Oh, yes, he definitely did. He’ll pay for the fear-mongering, too.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 10:59 AM
That about broke my heart..
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Why, that sounds quite moderate, bordering on independent.
myrenovations on September 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM
She’s a fellow Arkansan, battle. She’s just spent too much time out there in Kahleefornya.
She needs to be drug back to Arkansas for reedumacation.
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Yeah if my wife has to work at HQ I may not go….
if the SEIU or the DC Police get froggy it’ll be no place for a kid….
“it ain’t America no more cracka’!” from oversealous DC cop would scar him for life.
sven10077 on September 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM
My blogging evolution is sincerely too boring for today. I’ll share, if you like, some non-news day when we’re tired of the topics.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 10:52 AM
I’ll be watching y’all on Fox News with Glenn Beck covering this Saturday. You’ll be in my prayers for your safety.
kingsjester on September 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Ah, I do miss Bill. :)
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
wow. thank you. another friend was just recently telling me how much he learned from that. I never read anything from it.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 11:02 AM
The rally is supposed to be over at 4 pm. How about 5:30 at the International Spy Museum?
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Ah, I do miss Bill. :)
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
So do a lot of other women. Some more intimately than others.
kingsjester on September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I completely support your choice. I think the potential for nutcases showing up is high right now, along with some kind of violent drama erupting. I wouldn’t take my kids, either.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I miss Carter.
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I am weary of people confusing a pleasant speaking voice with oratorical skill…
I’d love for those praising the “oratory” to point out the rhetorical devices he used – assonance, pleonism, what? What stirring phrase will be quoted henceforth?
Bah.
LTC John on September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I have no idea.
Anybody??? I’m still going.
Knucklehead on September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
see what Imean? insane.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Thank you.
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 11:05 AM
He’s a nice man, very ethical, and he got a bum rap in many ways.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:05 AM
It is without a doubt insight into the various styles of morals, ledership, and honor without peer in the Western world.
I wish they’d make a US version.
Maybe next time.
All the best,
sven
sven10077 on September 10, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Thanks for the fake concern. Obama told us to stop being scary.
faraway on September 10, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Oh please, the last story I read, some nut bit off a finger.
That’s mental illness. That’s what you better be prepared for.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Bingo! [+100]
CPT. Charles on September 10, 2009 at 11:06 AM
…..and I’d love to say “Oh, thank God Coleman it was all a bad dream, and it was all because of that awful……
Jerome Horwitz on September 10, 2009 at 11:06 AM
do you remember when you said you would never vote for another republican?
(Obama must have gotten you so livid for stealing Hillary’s tiara, that u voted for mcCain)
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Well yeah, destroying one’s own economy on a national scale will do that.
Carter, IMHO, was in the wrong line of work.
Dark-Star on September 10, 2009 at 11:07 AM
I wonder what happens when a citizen’s health profile matches up with a Senator or one of their sick kids and they need one of your spare kidneys?
CMonster on September 10, 2009 at 11:07 AM
We cannot let those on the left scare us away. That being said, I am not bringing my kids to town. Hope you can meet us.
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Well I had hoped we’d be meeting earlier….I am coming up from Columbia, SC to be there and meet people…
I suspect the turnout will astound and we don’t charter buses to take whole churches either…
My son was home ill last week and thus I have to get him back here to finish catching up on Sunday regardless….
perhaps next rally.
sven10077 on September 10, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Ann, apparently you don’t understand sarcasm. I’d rather relive the Carter era than go through the crap we’re fixin’ to deal with now.
And ‘Carter’ and ‘Ethical’ have no business in the same sentence unless they’re on court documents.
Lanceman on September 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM
I ain’t scared ma’am but if the needs of the Army force me to play “single mom” (I’m male) and I can’t cover down on keeping lad safe he is the hugher duty….plenty of time, sadly, to steeplechase Barry.
sven10077 on September 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Perfect choice of words. AnninCA is a “concern troll,” among her other duties for the Reich.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Sarah is speaking for us all. We have no voice with our elected officials, they have all shown disdain for our opinions. The dems are getting desperate and will outsmart all the R’s in the house. Dr. Boustany was just on Fox and said they could work with hr3200 if tort reform was added. We need to yell louder to Kill The Bill.
Kissmygrits on September 10, 2009 at 11:09 AM
AnninCA: How’s Abby doing today?
Chainsaw56 on September 10, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Now I know you are trolling. There are going to be a ton of people on the right side of this issue there. Let some thugs start something. You don’t think that there is going to be a massive amount of security there. Maybe in California bystanders let old men get beat down. Where I come from we help our fellow man.
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 11:10 AM
So, anyway, the speech. Boring to me. Nothing new. I did enjoy the dynamics. I got a kick out of the poor GOP guy who blurted out “liar.” Funny (and disrespectful, of course).
I really got a kick out of the laughter when he said, “Of course, we’ll have to iron out the details.” That was a big bi-partisan moment, actually. Everyone laughed at him.
So, I’m coming down on believing he’ll sign most anything that remotely resembles change in healthcare. We’ll take pot-luck on this one.
Some aspects I can tell I’m going to hate. Other stuff will probably be good.
I did like that he said he’d stop the practice of purging immediately. I decided that would be the progress.
The rest? Let it go.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Some presidents govern as legislators, because that’s their experience. Some Presidents govern as administrators, because that’s their experience. Obama is governing like a community organizer, because that’s his experience.
I hope he learns to deal with Republicans because, the way he’s going, he’s going to be dealing with a whole bunch of them from 2010 on.
bflat879 on September 10, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Annie you don’t need to worry, my son is my life to the point that because of the war’s requirements on our family I stay at home to do the best I can to support my son and my soldier. If my wife is in the area with me to rpotect my son I plan on bringing a nice oak cane, a smile, and a sincere wish for the SEIU or DC police to express the “courage of their convictions”….
I don’t trust the leftoids to leave kids out of the crossfire.
This ain’t a leisure visit to the beltway.
I hate it there.
sven10077 on September 10, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Snoozing here, Chain. I watched that show, btw. I’ve been practicing being a “pack leader.” :)
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:11 AM
I understand.
TXMomof3 on September 10, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Oh, sorry. I truly do think he is a very nice man. I love his post-presidency projects. He seems a bit bitter about his legacy, but that’s understandable. Who would want to be president during the worst inflation time in my history?
But no, he’s a nice guy type.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Some say you are Axelrod’s top student, assigned to the most difficult cases. Or maybe just a garden-variety psychopath, immune to emotion. tee-hee* Mostly, I just think of you as a virus, or at the very least, a carrier. Thing is, I’ve had my shot. So I’m immune.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Change
Obama has a new and fresh sales pitch.
(same old tired product)
Obama has a new set of canned rebuttals. (rebuttals and memorizing them help used car sales get better closing ratios)
If all the conservatives are “insane’ Where will they offer inpatient psych beds to treat them? Will this create “new jobs”?
seven on September 10, 2009 at 11:14 AM
No, I don’t have ‘a’ gun to cling to. Do you feel better now?
FREEDOM!
Blacksmith8 on September 10, 2009 at 11:14 AM
!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my.
So the ONE MALE POLITICIAN you DONT HATE is the one most associated with rape, sexual harassment, and sleeping around?
FIgures. Berkeley types don’t know how to quit them.
battleoflepanto1571 on September 10, 2009 at 11:15 AM
And she just keeps on going. You’re worth every penny darling.
JiangxiDad on September 10, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Very good.
Just curious, (yeah, I know, I’m always asking questions), what kind of leash do you use?
It’s not a ‘Flexi-lead’ is it?
Chainsaw56 on September 10, 2009 at 11:17 AM
There are some men who have it all. Hard to explain. :)
Seriously, I just like to tease you guys about that one. I know it drives people up a tree.
I honestly respected him more than any politician for his political savvy. The rest? That’s just fun stuff.
AnninCA on September 10, 2009 at 11:18 AM
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