William Galston asks the President to make a choice:
If [Obama] still wants legislation, he should invest the full authority of his office to persuade the House to endorse the Senate bill, accompanied by a package of amendments to be considered separately under the reconciliation process. If he has concluded that he has no choice but to take the issue off the table, he should say so. If he continues to utter hopeful banalities devoid of concrete meaning, the fragile reform coalition will collapse within days, with consequences that will endure for decades.
Amen. But this hanging back is pretty classic Obama. I’m waiting for the SOTU. It would be dumb to pre-empt it. But it doesn’t get more high-drama or high stakes than this. Look: I’m now old enough to remember when both Thatcher and Reagan at this point in their terms of office were being written off as failures. At this point Thatcher’s ratings were much lower than Obama’s and Reagan’s were roughly where Obama’s are and sinking to 39 percent. But that’s exactly the moment when they became the leaders they were.
Reagan made some small adjustments but insisted in retaining his core message of change. Thatcher, embattled by the opposiiton and her own party and massive public opposition, gave her famous “The Lady’s Not For Turning” speech. It seemed madness to many at the time – political suicide.
It was, in fact, political salvation. Obama has been given a gift with the timing of the SOTU. It’s in his hands now. And the position of so many of us who supported his unlikely candidacy from the very beginning is getting be clearer and clearer.
Fight, Mr President. Fight.
The Dish 