I just got off the phone with a very nice man from the DNC. He said they were calling people who had been strong supporters in the past, and updating them on the need for support at this time.
He said that he was sure I knew how many problems President Obama was having with the Republicans trying to block his program. He asked me if I knew about the President's recent speech where he told the Republicans they needed to grab a mop and start helping to clean up.
Then he asked me if I would give the DNC $200.
What I told him is below the fold.
I said that President Obama campaigned clearly on the promise of a strong public option in health care.
I said that I had sent President Obama an email, (and that I knew lots of people sent the President emails) saying that he seemed to want to be some superstar among all presidents, by getting his health care passed on a bipartisan basis. I said I had told the President to just get the health care he promised us passed with only Democrats.
No public option, no money to the DNC, I said.
Then I said that it was time for Harry Reid to grow a pair, and tell Senator Lieberman that if he filibusters the health care bill, his committee chairmanship is history.
No balls, no money to the DNC.
There wasn't much to say after that.
If the Obama administration wants to embrace the concept that it's easier to campaign than to govern, that's okay. I'm sure that's true.
But the only way the base that turned out for the campaign will turn out for governing is if there is the same clarion call we heard then translated into action.
Many of us worried at the start of the campaign that candidate Obama wouldn't be able to respond to the swiftboating of the Republicans. Candidate Obama did respond to that quite effectively.
But President Obama doesn't seem to see the need to respond to the swiftboating of his presidency that has continued unabated since he took office. If he is not the same fighter for the four years of his presidency that he was during his campaign, his presidency will be a one - term affair, and he will go down in history as an example of failed potential.