Obama to Leftwing Democrats: Please Save My Presidency!

But here's the problem. Grivalja of Arizona yesterday said he wouldn't vote yes. (Corrected; see below.)

Now he says he just might and probably will.

President Obama’s message to progressives who are dissatisfied with the Senate health care bill is two fold: First: Don’t forget about the uninsured. Second: Don’t forget what failure to pass this bill would do to the party and my presidency.

In a meeting with House progressives today, Obama made the pitch.

Speaking to reporters in the Speaker’s lobby off the House floor, Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said the President reminded them that “If this opportunity passes, much of our agenda, on the progressive side…it would be difficult, if not impossible for a generation to get back to this issue.”

I asked if the message was convincing to those in attendance.

“It’s pretty compelling,” Grijalva said.

That’s a significant change from his tone earlier in the week, when Grijalva said he was inclined to vote against the bill from the left.

Obama reminded the assembled Democrats that doing nothing would be politically disastrous. “To maintain a strong presidency we need to pass this bill,” the President said, according to Grijalva.

That's a problem -- we might expect a half dozen progressives to flip their votes, too.

More Promises: Hey, If You Pass My Bill, We Can Use It As the Foundation for Full-Fledged Socialist Takeover: Telling those leftwingers they can use this as a step on the way to the public option or single payer.

Correction: I first wrote that Grivalja wouldn't flip his vote from no to yes, but now says he might.

In fact, he was a "yes" vote before -- he had decided he might vote against the Senate version of the bill. So he was talking about changing a yes to a no, but now is saying he'll probably keep his yes a yes.

Thanks to "Obama is Carter" for that correction. As he says, this is not a net gain for Obama, but instead a hold, where we had been hoping it was a net loss.

posted by Ace at 08:06 PM

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