Health care struggling

So the President thought he could convince us to stop thinking about numbers last night. Didn’t work. JammieWearingFool recounts the conversation Senator Charles Grassley had with a Democrat colleague in which the colleague related the President telling the Blue Dog Democrats “You’re going to destroy my presidency.”

Karl Rove, In the Wall Street Journal “ObamaCare in Trouble“;

The polls are crumbling because of a flood of bad news about Mr. Obama’s health-care proposals. One batch of such news came from a July 17 study by the Lewin Group that was commissioned by the Heritage Foundation. It projects that if the House bill becomes law, 83.4 million people—nearly half of those with private coverage—will lose private insurance as employers drop their plans. Mr. Obama’s promise that you can keep your plan is being left on the cutting room floor with nary a peep from the president.

Another batch of bad news came this week as Democratic governors from Colorado, Tennessee, New Mexico and Washington joined GOP colleagues at the National Governors Association summer meeting to blast the administration for plans to shift millions of families into Medicaid. That could stick states with $440 billion in new costs over the next decade.

Even the Associated Press can’t put a happy face sticker on the White House these days;

The sense of bipartisanship the president infused into the effort in March has been dissipated; lawmakers may never have taken it seriously. And the clear, confident message of last year’s presidential campaign has turned into confusing policy options and messy politics, a standoff on Capitol Hill over how to expand and improve health coverage — and somehow pay for it.

It’s all recasting Obama’s image. The cool, crisp candidate who captivated voters last fall has been replaced by a president who is constantly calling for action, with little to show for it and his credibility at stake.

Democrats are putting on a brave face, noting that in Congress a legislative standstill can quickly shift into high-gear action.

It’s called biting off more than you can chew. George Bush knew it. he didn’t try to shove massive tax cuts down Congress’ throats, he took it slowly over five years and got everything he wanted. But Obama thought he had some kind of leverage over everyone because everyone around him told him so – that echo chamber effect.

All of those people who took the fall for his miscalculations during the elections are about to get some more company under the Obama bus.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Economy, Liberals suck, Usual Suspects