Obama hints at change he's unlikley to make
01/27/10
Continuing his "there's no much thing as too much exposure" tour, President Obama kinda-sorta-almost fessed up to screwing up health care "reform" on ABC:
“We had to make so many decisions quickly in a very difficult set of circumstances that after awhile, we started worrying more about getting the policy right than getting the process right,” Obama told ABC’s Diane Sawyer Monday. “But I had campaigned on process—part of what I had campaigned on was changing how Washington works, opening up, transparency. ...The health care debate as it unfolded legitimately raised concerns not just among my opponents, but also amongst supporters that we just don't know what's going on. And it's an ugly process and it looks like there are a bunch of back room deals.”
What is conspicuously absent from his assessment was whether or not they actually got the policy right. Remember, he was originally pushing for a public option and, really, a much different vision from either the House or Senate bills. But notice that while he acknowledges it was "ugly", at no point did he attempt to, ya know, lead and push publicly to purge the ugliness from this system.
More...
“The process didn't run the way I ideally would like it to and that we have to move forward in a way that recaptures that sense of opening things up more,” Obama said.
Do you mean starting over? I have a hard time believing that he's going to move this way. I fully expect him to double down tonight in the SOTU. I don't think he wants to have to admit to losing an entire year.
Still, more...
“Let's just clarify. I didn't make a bunch of deals,” Obama told ABC. “There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked.”
This is a really awful job of deferring blame. You're offended by the process? You're bothered by the backroom deals? So why not stand up against them? Is it just because it's more important to get the structure of this government take over of health care passed, no matter how it happens?
So, apparently he's offended by it, but just not offended enough to actually do something about it.