……..I’m not sure there’s big a substantive difference between the two parts of the GOP…….and of course it’s going to wildly popular as are the effects of the stimulus program when it comes into full flower next Summer….I have no doubt whatever that Democratic strategists and ad men are assembling all the “NO” clips, the “I WANT HIM TO FAIL” clips etc ready for the fall ad campaign next year…….all this bloviating about August 2009 polls is total nonsense…….we have this sky falling bs and yet I see the latest poll out has him at 57% which is pretty good………an energized campaign season and normal times are completely different in political terms……I personally have absolutely no doubt he’s going to pass a massive and substantive bill……furthermore in the house I suspect a few republicans will sign on for it to provide cover

Actually, the We Must Resist crowd is wetting their pants because they fear it being irreversible.

The portion of the GOP that Frum is trying to rally is wetting their pants because they expect it will be successful, and know it will be popular, and they know it’s going to pass with almost no Republican support – and that success and popularity will translate into further marginalizing the Republican Party as it now exists.

……..I can’t remember what the increase in tax reductions was but it was fairly marginal as I recall…….the stimulus bill looked very much like the bill he wanted to start with…. like 95%!

…….So he’s doing all this for a faux bill?……I rather doubt it because it’s success or failure in operation is going to have a big effect on public perceptions in 2012…..when this passes as it will almost certainly on recon it’s going to be the biggest social policy change since original passage of Medicare…..which is why the GOP is wetting it’s pants because when it’s passed it will be irreversible and they know it

I’m sure that Obama and his advisors have a strategy for dealing with getting a healthcare package passed. I’m just not assured that this strategy includes real reform that will have a significant impact on reducing costs and expanding coverage long-term … or if it will be a nice reform veneer that allows him to take credit for doing something when the long term result will just be continuing trend of healthcare spending increases for reducing coverage.

………He reduced it from about 820 billion to a whisker under 800 billion…….don’t get his bill mixed up with the one the house wanted to pass which came in at around 950 billion as I recall

……..you and Conason really under-rate the president you know……..do you really think he, Orzag, Emmanuel, Axelrod, Messina and co 1) didn’t expect this and 2) don’t have a strategy for dealing with it………I know what Grassley is up to so it hardly seems likely Emmanuel doesn’t ……… does it?…….you’re way too affected by the latest media generated flap……. it’s been apparent to me from day one and I’ve said it many times here that if he ultimately has to pass the healthcare bill on recon he will……..it’s not that fantastic…..Bush was passing bills on recon all the time…..the tax cuts with 58 votes and the prescription drug benefit with 54 votes……the Republicans will scream like stuck pigs but there’s loads of precedent and they’ve spent the last six months proving the absolute truth of Conason’s statement and most people know it…….I find the Democratic pantywaisters on this only marginally less silly than the Republicans

The problem seems to be Obama taking his ideal of finding bipartisan consensus too far, and being unwilling to play hardball with his own party bosses. Joe Conanson is of variable value, since he’s hyperpartisan himself, but he nails it here, I think:

The simple truth is that there is nobody on the Republican side who wants to negotiate with Obama. They are no longer afraid of him, and they unanimously want to ruin his presidency, regardless of the consequences.

Now, “regardless of the consequences” is Conanson’s partisanship coming through. To him, the consequences of neutering Obama early on in his term will be a disaster for not only Obama’s agenda, but for America … the country tends to flounder when a President has his nuts cut off. To the Republicans, neutering Obama is critical to saving the country.

It’s going to be up to Obama to decide if he wants to be cautious and abandon any healthcare reform that doesn’t get significant support from conservatives – which right now looks like no reform at all, since a lot of conservatives just want Obama to fail, as Conanson wrote – or if he’s willing to take the chance that a more partisan measure passes and suffers consistent and harsh attacks from the moment it is passed, no matter how it performs.

Hell, he made major adjustments to the Stimulus Package to address conservative concerns, and it’s still constantly under fire.

……….Got a new gig as pop psychologists have we?…….and like…err….. what actual evidence have you got for this diagnosis?………sounds a bit like the one the Republican senate leader who knew Schiavo was alive from looking at a video ……you should look back at the long hot summer of 2008 when the wheels were last allegedly coming off the Obama cart……Palin was carrying all before her……According to Rasmussen McCain was actually ahead in the race……people were carrying swastikas and Obama/Hitler pics at noisy rallies……Obama was in a blue funk….etc. etc……….In fact Obama never lost his cool, stuck to his strategic plan, relied on his trusted subordinates, didn’t get blown off course by the latest poll or media inspired nonsense du jour……..and guess what he was elected president 8-12 weeks later by the biggest margin for a non incumbent democrat since FDR in 1932…….what we’re seeing is deja vu all over again