Americans are Tired of a One Year Super Bowl on HCR. It Looks Like the Same Old Gridlock.

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

By Mark Karlin

When a Super Bowl political issue such as healthcare reform drags out for more than a year, to most Americans it looks like gridlock.  Given President Obama's rational Zen leadership and Rahm Emanuel's shortsighted self-enclosed view of Congress and the American "center," the President and the nation would have been better served, it appears, by Obama throwing the long ball of "Medicare for All."

BuzzFlash has advocated government administered universal health coverage for years, and particularly the phrase "Medicare for All."  Sure, it probably wouldn't have passed the Senate the first time around, but it would have been quick, decisive, and bold.  That's what Americans want in a Super Bowl quarterback, and despite all the polling on self-identified political labels ("conservative," "liberal," etc.) that's what they want in a president.

To most Americans, process is process, and whether its gridlock or a bill that takes a year and then is left floating in limbo, it's still government that does not work.

President Obama and Rahm Emanuel failed to see that the mere length of their death by a thousand compromises HCR bill would be its undoing.  If the GOP are going to continue to call the weak Senate HCR bill "socialist," while they champion the socialist Medicare program for seniors (which they historically opposed until the senior vote became too important in key Republican states and districts), then Obama would have been better off throwing the long ball and letting the Republicans and "centrist" Democrats attack a bill that delivered "Medicare for All."

Obama is brilliant and knows every nook and cranny of the public policy that he is responsible for, as he evidenced to the dismay of the House Republicans in his withering responses to GOP Congressional questions in Baltimore a little over a week ago.

But he doesn't appear to understand the context in which Americans view the political process.  He keeps talking about bi-partisanship after being slapped around and obstructed by the GOP at every corner.  That appears plain foolish as a political policy.

Americans like decisive and audacious leaders, not drawn out bureaucratic and Capitol Hill intrigue processes that take forever. 

They want strength; they want leadership; they want someone who can define the issues to them on a straightforward, personal level.

President Obama better learn this quickly, because the clock is running out as far as the 2010 elections, and the Republicans -- and "centrists" in his own party -- are continuing to tie his hands as he seeks incremental change when the long ball is called for.

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG