True North

The opening of this LA Times article indicates that Democrats are either spinning reality or they're badly misreading what's happening. Here's what I'm referring to:

Reporting from Washington - As voters lose patience with political gridlock, the Obama administration is embarking on a strategy aimed at putting Republicans on the spot: Either participate in bipartisan exchanges initiated by the president, or be portrayed as the party of obstruction.

Personally, I'm leaning towards the opinion that Democrats are spinning this because nobody's stupid enough to think that the people are upset most with gridlock. What people are upset with is the Democrats' spending habits. They aren't happy with the Democrats' radical agenda, starting with the Democrats' health care legislation. By telling the American people that Republicans vehemently disagree with the Democrats' health care legislation, the Democrats are telling people that Republicans agree with people that the Democrats' bill should be stopped.

Democrats have consistently said that the American people want health care reformed. They often cite that 63 percent of the people agree with that. The Republicans don't argue that point. They just highlight the fact that more people want nothing done than they want the Democrats' legislation enacted by a nearly 60 percent-40 percent margin.

The American people also are upset that Democrats haven't listened to them. They don't like the Democrats' special deals, especially the deal that unions got on their Cadillac health insurance policies. They hate the crony capitalism that the Democrats are playing.

Right now, it's not clear voters blame one party more than the other for paralysis in Washington. A recent poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal showed that voters are as apt to blame congressional Republicans as Democrats for the standoff. Virtually everyone surveyed agreed there is too much infighting in the capital.

Right now, it isn't clear that voters are all that upset with the gridlock that's preventing the Democrats' radical health care legislation from being enacted. There's likely alot of frustration over the Democrats' unwillingness to put legislation together that the people actually believe will lower their health care costs and their health insurance premiums.

This is just pathetic journalism:

In a flurry of recent public appearances, President Obama has sent a message that he is prepared to embrace GOP ideas. But he is also signaling that if Republicans balk at compromise, he'll exact a political price.

It's true that President Obama has talked about bipartisanship. It's equally true that he hasn't actually indicated that he's willing to scrap the legislation that Republicans and the American people have rejected. With HHS Secretary Sebelius announcing that Democrats would use the bills passed by the House and Senate as their starting point, they've actually told the American people that they're still ignoring the American people. If that's his way of "exacting a political price" on Republicans, then I'm betting that Republicans are praying for that type of treatment.

Republicans, said White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, "have a role to play in solving problems in this country, or be accountable to the electorate for choosing not to."

That spin is pathetic. Until now, Democrats, especially in the House, have locked Republicans out of the process. On the House side, Democrats allowed ONE AMENDMENT during the floor debate. Unless the Democrats show that they're willing to open the process up, they'll be in danger of looking obstinant.

Susan Estrich might have something in this article:

Years ago, when I was working in politics, I had a meeting with our pollsters that I'll never forget. After a particularly detailed (and negative) survey, one of the guys who had been polling for years leaned over to me and said, "We have a very big problem. People just don't like our candidate." Not an ideological problem. Not a problem with his experience or positions. They just didn't like him.

Of course, you can't tell your candidate that the people don't like him. So we looked at each other and shook our heads. There is only one way to translate that result. Candidate, we said to him, the people don't know you.

The White House is trying to treat the problem with its health care proposal as a communications problem. It's not that people don't want the plan; they just don't know how great it is. Our fault, says the president, for not communicating more effectively.

Not so fast.

Simply put, the American people have rejected the Democrats' legislation. They don't object to preventing the Democrats' legislation from becoming law. They're objecting to the Democrats preventing passage of health care legislation that would fix the health care problems.

The American people know that the Democrats' bill:

• is loaded with tax increases (except if you're in a union);
• doesn't bring down health insurance premium costs;
• doesn't reduce health care costs;
• gives government the final say in whether a patient gets the treatment he needs.

Democrats voting for this legislation are voting to end their political careers. They might not think that but that's the fact. Let's remember that Scott Brown got more votes than Martha Coakley in Barney Frank's district. I'll readily admit that it's likely Barney Frank will fare better than Martha Coakley but he'd better not take things for granted.

The Obama administration and their willing allies at the LA Times can spin the health care issue all they want but that won't help because the American people have rejected the bill for what's contained in the bill.

Comments welcome at LFR.

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