Here's my advice for President Obama as the crunchtime arrives for such major initiatives as healthcare reform and climate change: Get mean already.
The president's coolness in the face of the right wing's relentlessly anti-intellectual assault on his policies has been impressive as a display of character. But it also has enabled his opponents to subvert his program and erode his popularity.
He hasn't been helped by the feckless performance of the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They've behaved like they think the public buys into such Republican talking points on healthcare as the "death panel" and "socialized medicine" claims -- all discredited fantasies.
By failing to take a strong line, the Democrats allowed the GOP to dominate the healthcare debate all summer. Senate Majority Leader Reid wasted weeks trying to enlist the GOP in a compromise, despite clear signs that Republican leaders were only interested in sabotaging reform. Obama didn't really take the reins of the debate until his address to Congress on Sept. 9.
Consequently, reform that Congress might have passed by Labor Day may not happen for months. Reid still isn't guaranteeing that healthcare reform will pass this year, saying only that there's "a very good chance" it will happen. Is this how a leader with a commanding majority should talk?
Interestingly, the GOP noise machine that has so unnerved the Democrats has done nothing to shake the public's desire for reform. It has merely sapped confidence in the Democrats' ability to deliver the goods.
That's shown by the latest polls. On the question of who is trusted more to handle reform, a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted Sept. 10 to 12 found that while Obama still leads congressional Republicans 48% to 36%, his margin has shrunk from a 55%-to- 30% split in mid-June.
Opinion about the program "being developed" by the administration and congressional Democrats was about equally divided pro and con, but 54% of respondents said that the more they heard about it, the less they liked it.
Yet these are pointers to what's been said about the program, not to what's in it. When asked to rate the actual provisions of the program, respondents expressed solid support.
Do Americans want to see an end to insurance exclusions for preexisting medical conditions? Yes, by 53% to 43% (NBC News) and 79% to 16% (CBS News).
