Barack Obama has a fundamental political instinct, which is to reach out to the people who perceive him as their enemy, try to make a human connection, thereby draining away their hostility toward you. It is a wonderful, beautiful thing to behold. His confidence in this instinct is truly inspiring. I find myself cheering him on, hoping that he will make all the doubters---including myself---regret all those times when they harbored doubts about the man's impressive abilities.
So even though I am very comfortable being called a Leftist and have been very fearful that Barack might soon make the biggest mistake of his political career, I am still holding out for the possibility that Barack Obama will stand before Congress and tell them that in spite of his desires to reach a compromise that will satisfy the opponents of his health care plan, the memory of his mother will not permit him to sign a bill that does not have a strong public option. That is my hope and my prayer.
I am fearful that he will not seize this glorious, Obama-defining moment of opportunity because I fear his constant interaction with Republicans and DLC/blue dogs might have led him to a view of the political landscape that serves only the interests of the insurance companies and the Republican Party. To borrow the narrative that Barack Obama, himself, used to describe the "Washington environment", I am afraid that Barack might be 'falling under the spell' of Washington lobbyists and their Congressional allies (e.g., Rahm E.).
The 'reaching out' thing is, I believe, important. It helps to define you against the efforts of The Evil Ones to define him as the spawn of Satan. But here's the thing: if Barack does actually deserve the credit I give him [in advance] for orchestrating a magnificent victory for The Progressive Left while at the same time furthering the exodus of level-headed Republicans away from the Republican Party, then he must be relying on The Left to play a certain role in the drama that he is trying to pull off, in order for him to achieve his multiple-goals.
Since he is presenting himself as the conciliator, the mediator between opposing parties while still seeking to advance the agenda of The Left, then he must want Progressive activists to 'shout out' the Moral Answer to the Blue Dog Compromisers at times like these to put him in the position he wants to be in, in the middle, where he can then make an Executive Decision---after much reflection---to embrace the Progressive Left's agenda. This would be preferable to leading 'from the Left' for a couple of reasons.
First, he will have been interacting with the Compromisers/Republicans for a period of time, acknowledging their concerns, giving him a relationship with these people. Then, when he makes his Executive decision to embrace the agenda of The Left for moral reasons, the moderates will be listening to him and giving some consideration to the moral weight of his arguments.
If, instead, he had loudly led from The Left as an antagonist of The Right, even the moderate Republicans would have ignored his justifications and would simply have focused on how they are going to articulate their next attack on Obama. One more benefit of the conciliator approach: if he were to lead from the Left, it would pretty much guarantee that the Right would try to kill him sooner than later.
So that is what I am holding out for, another magnificent performance by Barack Obama, one that would make his mother proud. The key for this kind of complicated strategy to work is a very vocal Progressive Left that is able to articulate the moral reasons for pursuing the HC solution that Barack has always said he wanted. We are not hurting Barack Obama; we are helping him to achieve the objectives he and his mother have always wanted to achieve.
If future events prove that I was wrong to hold this sanguine view of President Obama, well....that's a diary I will have to write another day, after I have gotten over the profound sadness that will have swallowed me up by then...
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Update:
One thing that could happen, that would give me hope for a big Progressive victory, is the huge HC Rally in Washington that is being held on September 13. IF we could get 1,000,000 people to show up in front of Capitol Hill on that date, DEMANDING the Public Option, it could very well change everything, overwhelming the Compromisers and the MSM with a visceral demonstration of the public will.
Can we make it happen?