The Party of Maybe, Maybe Not

It's hard to escape the lingering foreboding that the Obama Administration just doesn't get it when it comes to sizing up their opposition and how to win the health reform struggle. For all the savvy of people like David Axelrod (whom we admire greatly) and Rahmbo (not so much), much of what has occurred over the past few months can be interpreted, rightly or wrongly, as the Administration not having its message and act together. A Plan B? We're not sure there was a Plan A.

And trusting the Rethugs as good-faith negotiating partners? Rethug Sen.Kyl is all but pleading with the Administration to stop negotiating with his fellow Rethugs, saying he doubts "a single Republican" will vote for reform. Not one! Now that's party purpose and unity, however evil it may be.

Paul Krugman thinks its time for Obama to win back progressives' trust and change his high-Broder "bipartisan" strategy:

"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."

Eugene Robinson is in a similar quandry:

"Here's the least surprising news of the week: Americans are souring on the Democratic Party. The wonder is that it's taken so long for public opinion to curdle. There's nothing agreeable about watching a determined attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

So, perhaps we're seeing the two parties aligned thusly: the "Party of No" Rethugs full of conviction and passion, against the "Party of Maybe, Maybe Not" Dems not sure they have the conviction to fight for anything.