Obama's presidency is in trouble for two main reasons: (1) his approach to the legislative branch; and, (2) his yearning for bipartisanship.
First some background.
About a year ago, I thought our country was about to turn a major corner. Poll after poll showed America rejecting the bullshit conservatism of Bush and his ilk. I knew that most of my adult life would be spent repairing the damage left by the man, but I assumed that the bottom had been hit, and things were well on their way.
After the election, I was even more certain. It would take a while to see what happened in Minnesota, but clearly we had a huge electoral mandate in both Houses of Congress and for Obama to bring about "change." And, as the rest of the world noted, it was no small thing that this country elected a black man.
Despite years of nothing but the deepest despair, I believed we had turned the corner. Now I'm starting to think that the hole is even deeper. This isn't to say that Obama won't get reelected in 2012. It is to say that the "change" we hoped for will apparently require either more patience or more heightening of the contradictions.
First, his approach to the legislative branch.
Obama came from the Senate, and before that from the Illinois statehouse. These clubbish environments have nothing but self-reverence. When every senator gets his coffee poured just the way he likes it, things work. At least that's what it seems like from the inside. Lots of backslapping, horse-trading, and hand-shaking. If you just understand the culture from the inside, you can work it, right?
Wrong. The approach Obama chose on health care had only one virtue: it was different than what Clinton did. This assumes that if Clinton had given Congress a larger share in his reforms his bill would have passed. I don't think so. Obama probably had the political capital to get the bill passed in February, but wasted it by letting the tarpits of Congress slow it down. Senators and representatives snap to attention of the President when the President is powerful. How many Democrats supported Bush's major initiatives? Many.
The second approach is that he appears to be too interested in keeping the illusory "Obamicans" happy. Remember Rick Warren? Working the hardest to appeal the most marginal of your supporters only makes them more needy. And then they betray you anyway, especially when they think you're weak and pandering.
So, Obama is turning his back on his base. If you think there will be a strong public option in a health care bill, you're deluded. Maybe in 2011 if he catches Osama.
No, it's over this time. Obama ceded the process to Ben Nelson, Olympia Snowe, Joe Liebermann, Kent Conrad, et al. And those folks were never going to give us the public option. We may get exchanges and community rating, but that's it.
But at this point, I think the country has shown that we have deeper problems than this health care debate. We have a rabid citizenry going from delusion to delusion about the President almost certainly because of his race. There is bolder and bolder violence and intimidation from the small percentage of Americans who are threatened by Obama. And the media is running with it.
I think making sure everyone has access to health care would go a long way to easing the economic instability that it as at the root of these anxieties, but the very same people who would benefit oppose it. And they apparently oppose it violently.
Sure, there was a great deal of agitation about the Clintons. It was extreme. It was scary, and they impeached him and made up any number of stories about him. But I was an adult then and very aware of what was occurring, and it wasn't this bad.
And Clinton stopped playing nice with people after a while. Remember the government shut down?
When will Obama stop playing nice with these people? He has a while to figure it out before President Petraeus chases me out of the country.
But when we've reached the point when the President can't talk to school children, where people are bringing guns to town halls, and the birthers and deathers get a serious audience from the "liberal media" there is a deep sickness.
I haven't felt this way since 2004.
I can't even look at the news anymore. I know that what I will see will spike my blood pressure. Even after last year's election, it doesn't seem to matter. Like many of you, I worked hard for years to bring this about but now I feel like it was mostly in vain. The problems are deeper and systemic.
Clinton pulled out of the troubles of his first few years. I just hope Obama can do the same.
It's time to get the Congress-worshipers out. Rahm should be out. Biden should be kicked aside. Obama needs to figure out how to be President, not Prime Minister, and he needs to do it yesterday.