Via Plum Line:
In a new book, Rahm claims he privately argued to Obama that he shouldn't pursue bipartisan support for health reform, because it would take too much time, instead insisting that the lesson of Clinton's failure to pass reform was that it was imperative to put a premium on getting it done quickly. That cuts strongly against the image of Rahm as the chief internal advocate of the White House's strategy of deal-making and accommodation with Republicans.
It gets better after the jump.
Unlike his boss, Emanuel wasn't interested in looking reasonable with Republicans; he wanted to look victorious. He didn't care much for uniting red and blue America; he wanted blue America to beat its red rival...
Obama was prepared to sacrifice time and political capital to make his policy bipartisan and more ambitious; Emanuel believed Obama did not have that luxury. "Time is your commodity. That answers everything," Emanuel said. "But a lot of us thought we didn't have the amount of time that was being dedicated. If you abandon the bipartisan talks you get blamed. He still wanted to try to achieve it that way. But that's one of a series of things you can look back on and be a genius about.
I'm not sure if I buy this but based on what I've read, seen and heard thus far, I wouldn't be shocked if Rahm was telling the truth.
Wolffe reports that Obama got into a testy exchange with Senator Chuck Grassley, in which the President flatly asked Grassley if he could support health reform if the public option were dropped and he got everything he wanted. Grassley, in effect, said: Nope. And he told a top Obama adviser the same.
The key is that this exchange occurred early on in the process, and the quest for bipartisan support for health reform continued anyway.
Barack Obama, always willing bend over backwards and give the farm away as long as he makes the Republicans - and Wall Street by extension - happy.
At some point someone needs to ask Obama whether he really believes in democratic principles or he's just a Rethug in Dem's clothing out to destroy the liberal brand for good. I for one am convinced that Obama is doing just that and I can't think of any reason other than that he's really a closet Republican. Whatever he is, Obama is doing more damage to liberal ideas that have contributed to progressing our country forward than any other president with a (D) attached to his name. And it's a goddamn shame.