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President Obama hosts his big Health Care Summit this Thursday at Blair House, just across from the White House. In theory it's to provide one last chance for Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans to gather, discuss competing plans, find what common ground they can, and then move forward towards enacting meaningful Health Care Reform (HCR).
Some believe this is a Presidential stroke of genius to take his ideas to the People and highlight GOP intransigence; in doing so, HCR will get that last push it needs to get over the hump. Others, like me, believe this is demonstrates the President's well-intended but utterly inexplicable obsession with using sweet reason to bring some portion of Capitol Hill Republicans into the fold; of convincing them that he's really a Fair & Likable Guy, that he Respects them, that he is, indeed, Willing to Listen to Them. Of course, those are all fine sentiments for a President, for anyone, to have, as long as the person across the table is negotiating in Good Faith, which the GOP is not.
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Part of the disconnect within Democratic/Progressive/Liberal on this whole thing -- not with President Obama, but with one another -- arises from our different perceptions of what "Change" we voted for.
There is the "Change" of Everybody Getting Along that Obama promised to usher in (so some people see).
Then there was the "Change" of finally getting Progressive Policies & Laws enacted (from HCR, to Climate Change Legislation...) that others, like me, voted for. Of course, if Republicans dig in their heels (as they've done) and refuse to deal/negotiate/bargain in Good Faith, then no amount of hoping for the first kind of Change will make it happen. A much more fulsome discussion of all this can be found in this diary: 2008: We Saw What We Wanted to See.
With all that said, the question remains: on Thursday, which Barack Obama will show up at this "Summit"? Like many, I don't see the need for any "Summit". The GOP's has been given more than enough opportunity to "have it's opinion known" about HCR. The GOP wants to kill it altogether. It says "tort reform" (gad, what a canard!) is the "key". A Public Option or expansion of Medicare is "Big Gov't" or "Socialism". We already know the GOP's arguments, opinions and positions. We've known them for over half a year. We've known them for almost 20 years. Good Lord.
So which Obama will show up? The man of action, or the man of words? The man who believes giving the GOP one more chance to "get" what a reasonable guy he is, or the man who knows that the GOP leadership (and so many of the rank and file) is peopled by so many louts, cretins and those who are 100% beholden to the Health Insurance Industry?
The Churchill, or the Chamberlain?
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The LBJ, or the Warren G. Harding?
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The Grant (as General), or the McClellan?
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The Captain America, or the Casper Milquetoast?
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The 2008 Obama, or the 2009 Obama?
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