Mr. Obama was never going to get everything his supporters wanted.
But there’s a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line. It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke: Senator Charles E. Grassley feeds the death panel smear, warning that reform will “pull the plug on grandma,” and two days later the White House declares that it’s still committed to working with him.
It’s hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can’t be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled.
By Paul Krugman.
This echoes a lot of my feelings and doubts about the Obama administration recently. I trust that they’re smart people and generally know what they’re doing (something I could never say during W.’s terms), but very few positive signs are coming out of this, and I’m starting to worry.
There will be no top down reform due to the one man vs. $2.5 trillion.