Why is this man compromising?
In his first national radio address after receiving what he called a “shellacking” by voters, President Obama said he would be willing to compromise with Republicans who, since his election two years ago, have refiused to compromise on anything; and who, in the days leading up to this election, chorused their intention to refuse to compromise on anything in the future. This raises the question: what is Obama’s strategy here?
He has been consistent. In the primaries more than two years ago, he unilaterally surrendered the single-payer option for health care reform. If he did this in the expectation that Republicans would be grateful, would treat him less harshly, and would oppose the remainder of his reforms less enthusiastically, we’ve gotta ask: How’s that working out for you, Mr. President?
We’ve also gotta ask: How might it have worked out if Mr. Obama had embraced single-payer, had run a campaign that had as its simple slogan “Medicare for Everyone,” had energized his supporters instead of trying to placate his enemies, how might that have worked out? We’ll never know.
Now that the Moneycrats have aired a few million dollars worth of 30-second commercials saying — repeat after me — “You don’t raise taxes in a recession” (even though the taxes Obama wants to raise are on people unaffected by the recession), the president is willing to compromise with them.
Pretty soon he’ll be announcing that he’s willing to compromise on the validity of his birth certificate.
