Let’s say you are the POTUS
Having lived many years in a Latin-American country were corruption is rampant and political ambitions are achieved though "coup d'états"; having also lived in Germany, where a party with the label of "SOCIAL Democratic Party" has been in power intermittently over the last 20 years; I can tell you that after living 13 years in the US, the politics and government in the US are more comparable with that of a Latin American country than with a European country. I imagine this should cheer up the GOPers who despise "old" European ways.
The US is in effect a dictatorship run by powerful corporations which allow its population to vote for a puppet president and puppet senators and house representatives. They allow it because they control the narrative through control of the media, lobbying and padding politician’s bank accounts. Corporations have billions to spare and therefore power to persuade the greedy and the ignorant and the scared. Domestically the president of the US only has the power to "express" what he would like to see or have – he cannot achieve any of his goals unless 60% of the senate and more than 50% of the house agree. If the president tries to do more, force his own agenda upon others (not that he has many tools), he is accused of "abuse of power".
Hey, if Bush, who sided with the corporations as all GOPers do, said the following: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator" – then, how easy do you think it would be for a POTUS who would want to oppose the corporations?
Now, let’s say you are this person who for some reason gets elected president and let’s say that you really want to govern for the people and help the people, for example by providing them with affordable healthcare. If that is your goal and you are the POTUS, you certainly must have heard and studied what happened the last time a Democratic POTUS tried to pass healthcare legislation.
You would know that around 1993, Hillary, the wife of president Bill Clinton, asked to be put in charge of the health care reform initiative. Hillary, as it so happens, had years of experience dealing with Republicans and powerful interests and she knew they would block her efforts at every step of the way. Therefore, she cleverly decided to IGNORE the Republicans and the insurance industry and craft a bill in secret, top secret, almost by herself, with the help of a few others. If I remember well, I think Donna E. Shalala was among them, not that it matters, but Donna criticized Hillary’s approach and it seemed that even in this tiny little group, it was not EASY to reach a compromise. Well, at least there were no teabaggers, since nobody knew exactly what was going on. It sounded so promising right... and then what happened? The insurance industry did not wait with their arms folded and they put up ads on TV against her yet unknown reform bill. Then, when Hillary went to congress, there was great mistrust of her bill. Amendments and new provisions were added and this and that, and basically as we all know, her bill got defeated. End of story. (Not really... Democrats as you know lost their majority in congress in the next elections).
But it is 2009 now and you are the POTUS and you know of course the Hillary fiasco with healthcare. So what strategy do you pick? Do you use the same strategy that did not work for Hillary? Do you do a middle of the road strategy and how does that look like exactly? Or do you try to bring everybody to the table and try to reach a compromise? And if it is 2009, what kind of compromise do you think you can get from the GOP, Lieberman, Landreau, Lincoln, and Nelson? And how do you fight the GOP misinformation machine? How do you keep the health insurance companies in check so they do not invest all their profits to fight your heathcare reform bill? And say you are a liberal and in your heart of hearts you would like to implement universal healthcare, but you know, that is IMPOSSIBLE, because you are just a weak link.
And say you know you do not have the power and you need people to fight for this bill, but you only see the teabagger rallies against health care reform, but no pro-reform rallies. The democratic senators, they don’t speak up, bunch of cowardly characters they are, they all seem to be in bed with the health insurance industry. You get emails for and against reform, but you know, all you can do is yet another speech. And you have been told... no more speeches, people are complaining about your speeches, they want solutions, the economy is on life-support, people don’t have jobs, and the right is calling you a socialist Marxists, so no more speeches.
What do you do? As it so happens you selected a tough guy as your arm-twisterer, let’s call him Rahm, and he says: forget about the liberals, we need to twist the arm of the conservatives, they are the big problem... Would you not agree? Aren’t the likes of Lieberman, Nelson, and all the GOPers not the biggest thorn in your eye? The liberals, sure you share the same goals, but how much can they help you? If they had any power they would have helped not only elect you, but elect more progressive Democrats to congress, they would be out in the streets rallying for health care reform, but they aren’t.
Liberals are calling for reconciliation, but do they even know the political ramifications? If the left screamed "abuse of power" at Bush’s vetoes and signings, what will happen if you use reconciliation? Perhaps as someone said you should have gone with reconciliation in the first place, but you knew what that means, just another way to circumvent the opposition, similar to what Hillary did and you are trying to do it differently. Moreover, reconciliation is not easy; many provisions would have to be stripped from the bill. If the public option is to remain, how to argue that it "lowers the deficit"? It is a very complicated process and it will take so long and will be fought so hard that there will be nothing left to rescue and election 2010 is just around the corner. So, what would you do?
(Side note: In the poll I don't give you the "none of the above option" because if it is none of the options offered, then I hope you will be so kinf and post your own REALISTIC, FACT BASED solution in a message.)