I was, and still am, a huge supporter of the President. But its no secret that whats disappointed many of us about Obama's first year is his decision to attain noble achievements like healthcare or financial regulation by playing the inside game. The administration made a decision shortly after entering office that because these things were a huge lift, they would have to co-opt some of the special interests, namely Phrma for healthcare, and the banking lobby on Financial regulation. What they didn't realize, and now they do, is that as soon as that happened they effectively ceded all the populist rhetoric and anger to the teabaggers. They were succefully painted as looking out for the big banks, insurance companies, drug companies etc...And like all perceptions, if there's a hint of reality to them, they tend to stick.
Now, the good news, is according to Richard Wolffe, the WH has realized that playing the inside game was a bad idea and they will be more populist both in their rhetoric and in their policy solutions. We're seeing the first signs of this in a NY times piece today thats saying Obama held a meeting with Chris Dodd to tell him to quit the idea of dropping the CFPA in order to get republican votes, and that a stand-alone CFPA is "non-negotiable" in their words. Think about that, thats a complete shift from where Obama would've been last year, where nothing was "non-negotiable" if it would get the republican votes and thus gain passage. They were so consumed with the inside game and legislative victories that they failed to see the larger picture.
So, if, at the end of the day, Martha Coakley losing has made the WH less of an inside player, then we could've been winners last night without even knowing it.
UPDATE: Below is the link regarding Obama, Dodd, and the CFPA. Gibbs also said several times in today's press briefing that a stand-alone CFPA is non-negotiable, so they're going public with this stance which means they intend to fight for it. Like I said though, we still have to wait and see if they keep on pushing for this. Remember, even though it was never non-negotiable, there was a time when Obama was pretty enthusiastic about the PO.
http://www.businessinsider.com/...