We've been asking this question ever since the primaries — does he really believe he can sweet talk Republicans into cooperating with him? — and we still don't know the answer. Obama is a guy who plays his cards very close to his chest. But the next couple of months should give us a clue. If he really believed it, then he probably doesn't have much of a Plan B and the next stop for this train is Chaosville. But if it was mostly an act, then his next step is obvious: he'll make a barnstorming public case that he made a good faith effort to work with Republicans but they were just completely intransigent. He'll attack them mercilessly and do everything he can to whip public opinion into a lather against the obstinate, obstructionist, reactionary GOP.
I guess I don't understand why he couldn't have earnestly believed that he could persuade Republicans into supporting a bill and now that that plan has fallen apart switch to the Plan B as described by Drum.
Anyway, this post from Drum does point us towards something that I have been ruminating on lately. During the primaries and the general election in 2008 Obama routinely played what has been described as a rope-a-dope strategy with opponents. While arm chair pundits were declaring the sky is falling and panic was setting in amongst the base Obama would remain cool and eventually come out on top. We saw this play out with the stimulus package as well. At some point last summer I decided that I needed to stop worrying so much and just trust Obama and I have for some time. Now though I am deeply concerned about healthcare reform but is this just playing out true to Obama's rope-a-dope strategy once again? I hope so but I'm far from confident.
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