Obama Chooses Health Care Reform Over Fake Bipartisanship

[Joanne98]

Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post reports:

In a meeting with House Republicans at the White House Thursday, President Obama reminded the minority that the last time he reached out to them, they reacted with zero votes -- twice -- for his stimulus package....

Obama also offered payback for that goose egg. A major overhaul of the health care system, he told the Republican leadership, would be done using a legislative process known as reconciliation, meaning that the GOP won't be able to filibuster it.

Congress has until October 15 to pass health care or student lending reform under the normal process. If it doesn't, reconciliation can be used to eliminate the 60-vote requirement.

Commenting on the same news, Chris Bowers at Open Left says:

Without the filibuster available to Republicans, it is highly likely that in 2009 Democrats will succeed where they failed in 1994. This might be the biggest legislative victory for progressives in, well, about as long as I can remember.

However, Grim at HuffPo notes that the Repubs have a plan to counterattack -- by whining!

A GOP source familiar with the meeting said that the president was extremely sensitive -- even "thin-skinned" -- to the fact that the stimulus bill received no GOP votes in the House. He continually brought it up throughout the meeting.

Look for the "thin-skinned" meme to start getting heavy airplay at Drudge and establishment media outlets near you.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/24/obama-chooses-health-care-reform-over-fake-bipartisanship/

[phantom power]

1. I could learn to like that man more and more.

[Cronopio]

2. "Thin skinned" being a euphemism for remembering the past and learning from it.

If Obama took the same attitude to the CIA and the banksters, we'd really be in business.

[truedelphi]

3. Totally agreeing with you. n/t

[Merlot]

4. Give him time...

Remember when people thought Obama shouldn't have tried to "play nice" on the stimulus vote? He knew what he was doing then, setting them up for this.

I think when Obama does things, he thinks things through a few steps ahead of his opponents. So maybe he's got something for the bankers as well. And honestly, I think the bankers are a lot tougher to deal with than the repubs. The repubs got nuthin, but the bankers have the country by the...well you know.

[Laelth]

5. Good for the President. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth