Howzit Going?
by digby
I have been watching the health care summit all morning and I think Obama has been quite effective in parrying the combative Republicans while staying above the fray. On the overall optics of the event, I’m not sure it’s going to move anyone. The anti-HCR people will cheer their leaders for standing up while the other side will praise theirs for holding fast.
Louise Slaughter’s speech was impassioned, which I thought was refreshing. She simply related instances in which the government has had to intervene over the years in order to change inequities in the health care system. She used examples pertaining to women’s health but the broader point about government’s role was even more powerful.
In all the talk today about “philosophical differences” Slaughter was one of the only participants who really got beyond the soundbites and expressed how the liberal philosophy works in action. It’s always good to tell personal stories and anecdotes, but it would be very useful if more Democrats could tell this kind of anecdotes as well — instances of government stepping in to fix systemic institutional problems. More of this please.
Naturally, the pundits are all obsessing on the McCain exchange, which IMO only helps the president since it seems that nobody likes McCain anymore, not even his constituents. (It was very enjoyable watching that exchange on the Sunlight Foundation site, in which McCain railed against the sweetheart deals and big money influence as his major donors scrolled down the page next to him.)And Obama was right to put a stop to his pontificating by pointing out that the election is over. He may be a fixture on the Sabbath Gasbag shows, but he is just another Senator in this meeting.
So far so good, at least on the optics. As for the substance? Well … it wasn’t really designed for substance, now was it?
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