Not a Negotiation At All

As I walked to work yesterday, the chyron on all the TVs on the CNN building, and the giant information ticker that runs around the building, said: "Bipartisan Healthcare Negotiations." And as I watched part of the summit, I kept hearing the President and Democrats say to the Republicans, "we agree with that."

So, I was surprised to see this headline this morning which suggests that Obama isn't going to change his bill at all:

Obama To GOP: It’s Over

Obama listened politely for six hours, with occasional flashes of temper, but in the end, the message was clear: It’s over. We’re moving forward without Republicans.

Whether Obama and Dems will succeed in passing reform on their own is anything but assured, to put it mildly. But there’s virtually no doubt anymore that they are going to try — starting as early as tomorrow.

That was the subtle but unmistakable message of Obama’s closing argument. After hours of hearing Republicans repeat again and again that only an incremental approach to reform is acceptable to them, Obama rejected that out of hand.

How will Americans react to this farce? I'm guessing they're not going to be any happier about it today than they were on Wednesday. That is, a majority will still want either to do nothing or to start over from scratch.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:38 AM

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