|
The White House game plan on getting this awful health care bill passed and signed involves attacking those on the left, such as Howard Dean, who point out the bill's flaws.
The attacks, mimicked by Senate Conserva Democrats like Mary Landrieu who are relishing this cover from the White House, also feature an element of faux elitism to those charged.
The clear subtext, emerging as a genuine narrative, goes something like: you arugula-chewing liberals with your laptops and your health care plans love to poke at castles in the air, while we are focused on helping real people in real trouble. You are ideologues and we are pragmatic.
(Of course, and this is beside the point, but: this narrative has nothing at all to do with reality. The progressive base that the White House is aggressively insulting in their frenzied attempt to get this lipsticked pig passed are the same everyday Americans who need help with health coverage, and who were willing to compromise on all kinds of things in the bill before it became fundamentally flawed.)
Why didn't the White House simply say: "This is not the bill we wanted, but it's the best bill we can get right now and it will save lives in the near term. And we are going to go right back to the drawing board after it's passed to see how we can make it better."?
This would have made allies out of so many thousands of bitterly disappointed progressives instead of making them the enemy. This would have energized the base into thinking about the next election instead of energizing them to stay home. This would have helped those critical incumbents in tough districts instead of making their futures uncertain.
What's so perplexing about this is how the President and the White House have done just the opposite on other hot button issues, most emphatically with respect to Afghanistan. Barack Obama bent over backwards, I felt, in the presentation of his Afghanistan policy to acknowledge that many political allies are not in agreement with him. But by being open and honest about it, he was largely successful in deflecting major criticism, let alone the open revolt he's facing now with the base.
The saddest part is that with every new statement coming from them along these lines, and the more rushed Harry looks trying to get this thing done before Christmas, the more phoney the whole outcome looks.
And that is far more damaging to electoral success in 2010 than disrespecting the base. The phony factor also pervades the demographic of low-info voters who don't obsess about politics, but who can spot a fake a mile away. And once that kind of voter, the kind that decides elections, gets a case of "All politicians are the same"-ism, the advantage the Democrats have over Republicans vanishes.
|
