oh, well, the public option wasn't there

Oh, wait, Midwestern Progressives do so -- such as Russ Feingold, pro-guns, pro-Old Testament, and anti a lot of Obama's programs (at least until the end).  Hmmm, wonder if Obama will be saying the same things about Progressives when he comes to the rally in Madison, Wisconsin, in a week?  Um, no, don't think so.  

by Chris in Paris on 9/18/2010 02:32:00 PM

It's good to be da' king. What other industry can manage to raise rates this much during one of the worst economic periods in the last 100 years? Even worse, how could the Democrats fail to get more when everyone who has health insurance is aware of such obnoxious rate increases year after year?
More than 1 million Californians will see their health insurance premiums rise Oct. 1 now that regulators have wrapped up their review of a plan by Aetna Inc. to raise rates an average of 19% for 65,000 individual policyholders.

Aetna was cleared Friday by the state Department of Insurance to proceed with its new plan. It was the last of four major insurers to be reviewed by the department, which has OKd double-digit rate increases by Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California and Health Net Inc. in the last month.

But this is his version of bipartisanship: Speaking out of both sides of his mouth, satisfying no one.

What he did there - and what Gibbs did a couple of weeks ago - is why it is impossible to trust any message from Obama that smacks of good old fashioned liberal, populist, Democratic ideas: he doesn't believe in them, he doesn't support them, and he cannot maintain the charade that he does long enough to actually see any of them enacted or realized.

That Deficit Commission looms large in a sea of other decidedly non-progressive ideas that Obama has shown he supports; what he said at the fundraiser, I think, seals the deal for the rich to get their beloved tax breaks - and provides more ammunition for Alan "Snidely Whiplash" Simpson and his henchmen to put up recommendations that will break the backs of the old, the sick and the poor.

Joking about it here is not funny and doesn't make it a joke, by any means.  We needed it.  We needed that negotiation from the health care industry, corporations and particularly the insurance industry.  It was just like Geo. W. Bush giving away the government's--our--right to negotiate lower costs on prescriptions.  But at least we expected that from W.

...does he believe they'll come out to vote against Republicans no matter how they're treated by their own, so there's little downside?

It worked in the election of 2008.

Campaigning for and praising Lieberman.
Campaigning with Donnie McClurkin.
Voting for FISA.
Naming Biden the vampire as VP.

Bill Clinton said "I feel your pain."

If you want to discuss the nature of our different approaches, Iim glad to oblige.

Madam, I believe my firm opposition to torture couldn't be more emphatic.

If you want to stalk off in a huff or yell again, suit yourself. Outside of the club, it says more about you than it does me (and, I presume you know that as well.)

Our conclusion:  Obama lacks empathy.

I know, stop the presses.  

And our President is apparently surrounded by advisers who have the same lack.

Robert Gibbs with his "professional left" slam was not serving as the canary in the mineshaft for this hazardous tactic (or we would have had a dead bird on our hands), but seems to have been studiously reflecting what is believed and  what is said. Indeed, a Roger Dangerfield mentality seems to exist, where the WH crowd feels that they get no respect for all that they have done owing to the diminished powers of perception and reason of so many.

At another Democratic fundraiser in Los Angeles, just four months into his term, a similar petulance was exhibited, also evoking laughter from Democrats in attendance.  The president claimed that in just four months he had done more than any president since FDR, and seemed disappointed  that this was not self-evident to all.  

Now, maybe it is just Mr. Obama's sense of humor which does seem to run to Tosh.O, but it must be more than that. Criticizing Democrats may be seen as moving him away from  being considered a Democrat so as to capture Republicans and Independents, while keeping those Democrats whose noses may be out of joint, but do not like witches either.