Obama's major difficulties predictably derive from reacting too strongly against the Clinton model. Where Clinton went wrong by being too controlling, Obama has given up to much control. Leaving the specifics to Congress has led to a classic sausage-making festival. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
The parallels Weisberg creates between Obama and past presidents are overwrought, but his thesis -- that Obama is overcompensating for the Clintons' failure on health care, Bush's failure in foreign policy, etc. -- is sound and reasonable, and he makes a fairly strong case here.
Obama’s major difficulties predictably derive from reacting too strongly against the Clinton model. Where Clinton went wrong by being too controlling, Obama has given up to much control. Leaving the specifics to Congress has led to a classic sausage-making festival. Neutralizing powerful interest groups has meant dropping sound policy ideas and neglecting essential cost controls. Putting the Democratic legislative barons in the driver’s seat has undercut bipartisanship. Not having a specific plan has left Obama in the awkward position of lobbying for something that doesn’t exist.
The other factor that helps Obama is that his opponents are fighting the last war, too. Because obstructing “Hillarycare” worked for them politically in 1994, many Republicans seem to think that spiking “Obamacare” will play the same way the second time around. Even if they can, it won’t.
