November 16, 2013
THE UNEXAMINED BELTWAY LIFE:
Does the health-care fumble mean game over for Obama? (Dana Milbank, November 15, 2013, Washington Post)
Four times he mentioned fumbling -- both the HealthCare.gov Web site and his promise that people could keep their health plans if they liked them. "These are two fumbles on something that -- on a big game, which -- but the game's not over," he said.In a narrow sense, that's probably true: There may well be enough time to salvage Obamacare.But on the broader question of whether Obama can rebuild an effective presidency after this debacle, it's starting to look as if it may be game over.
Let us consider for a moment what Mr. Milbank is asserting and asking here : that there ever was an effective Obama presidency and that its end would matter.
As to the first, having come to office with no agenda pretty much everything the UR has accomplished has been nothing more than a continuation of the effective Bush presidency, up to and including passing the Heritage Foundation's health care mandate.
Now, let us ask what might not be accomplished in the coming years that this president has distinctly set out to do, such that it would define his presidency as uniquely his own? *crickets*
The fact is that the point of his presidency is nothing more than for him to be president. He is going to be president for 8 years--barring tragedy--so he has effected everything he sought to achieve. The game is over, but, on his terms, he won.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 16, 2013 10:04 AM
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