BETWEEN HAVING NEVER GOVERNED ANYTHING AND BEING SO REACTIONARY...:

New Tack Pays Few Dividends for White House (JONATHAN WEISMAN, 2/25/10, WSJ)

In the case of health care, some lawmakers complained the content of the White House plan took them by surprise, coming just four days before a "summit" meant to to yield some bipartisan cooperation on the issue.

Meetings of the House Democratic Caucus on Monday and Tuesday showed the White House gambit did little to bridge rifts within the party, according to congressional aides. Conservative Democrats expressed surprise that Mr. Obama hadn't scaled back the proposed overhaul. Liberals remained angry about his decision to drop a government-run insurance option.

On financial regulation, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) was one of few lawmakers with advance warning of a proposal to separate commercial and investment banking, dubbed the "Volcker Rule" after its originator, Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman and current White House adviser. Mr. Dodd pressed the White House not to announce the plan on Jan. 21, just two days after Democrats lost a special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, fearing it would look "political" and disrupt financial-overhaul talks in Congress, according to a Senate Democratic aide familiar with the events.

Mr. Dodd was overruled; the aide said he left "as frustrated as he's ever been as a senator."

The banking committee's top-ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, accused the White House of "airdropping" the proposal into negotiations.

...you have a pretty bad formula for a presidency.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 25, 2010 6:41 AM