Charles Krauthammer – Obama Tried Governing And Failed

[Commentator]
We should point out there isn’t a White House Bill, per say. There are ideas. The congressional budget office can’t even score what the White House put out this week. Because their aren’t specifics, and usually people negotiate over a specific Bill, that’s laid out. There won’t be one on the table. Charles…

[Charles Krauthammer - Commentator]
Right, that’s because Thursday, is not a real event, about real numbers, its a theatrical event. Look Obama became President of The United States with a theatrical campaign in 2008, charisma, rhetoric, that’s what he does best. Then he tried a year of Governing and he didn’t succeed very well, so he is returning to theater Thursday. And I think its gonna help him, I think he is likely to come out ahead, as he did when he met with the House republicans in Baltimore. And his idea, is to pivot off that, with a bump you get, with the confidence, the moral it infuses in your troops in the Senate of The House. You go and you attempt reconciliation.

[Commentator]
Well, about that reconciliation. This process, Robert Byrd in West Virginia is one of the people who came up with the rule back in 1974, and here is what he wrote to his colleagues just last year about using reconciliation – this process for health care. “I oppose using the budget reconciliation to pass health care reform and climate change legislation, such a proposal would violate the intent and spirit of the budget process, and do serious injury to the constitutional role of the Senate.” (Robert Byrd said this April 2, 2009) That’s from April of last year.

[Charles Krauthammer - Commentator]
Well, since he is one of the inventors of this process, I think he is pretty good authority of the spirit and the intent. And it is a trick and we never done it for a Bill of this scope and size of a form revolution in ??? of the American economy. However, I won’t, it’s not illegal, and if, I think its still possible, I think the reason Obama is trying this is not because he wants to plaqueate his left and show that he gave his College a try, this is a man who believes ideologically in this deeply, he sees himself as a world historical figure, not just a first African American President, but like Regan, a man who changed history. He wants to be the father of national health care, and if this is passes or jammed or rammed, ultimately we are gonna end up with a Canadian system, or a British system. And he will be remembered as a man who did it. Its about ideology and politics.

[Commentator]
Steven, as we pointed out in the beginning of the show, the key part of the reconciliation process is the House has to pass the existing Senate Bill with no changes.

[Steven - Commentator]
Right

[Commentator]
And the numbers are just not there.

[Steven - Commentator]
No the numbers are, the numbers do not work at this point. I mean, you talk to people on capitol hill, you have numbers thrown around, and you have numbers from anywhere from 215, somebody today said 190 ??? poles, you might get, people don’t have a sense of, the final number will be, but there seems to be broad agreement that he doesn’t have the numbers and but to Charles point briefly, I agree, that, I think that he would like to have passed this, as a President, but if, he were that committed to it, all along why did he take an entire year, letting everyone else do the details, without actually, this is the first time the President has really weighed in with any kind of specifics and now we only have 11 pages of specifics at that.

[Charles Krauthammer - Commentator]
I think the answer is that he misread the Clinton experience and he interpreted, as if the President, imposes or proposes the plan and it gets tore apart, and you fail. And he thought I will do it the reverse way, but he over read, the lesson, he did it entirely handing it over to the Barons in the House of the Senate, and he was stuck, with two monstrosities.

Charles Krauthammer – Obama Wants To Be The Father Of National Health Care. – LYBIO for Charles Krauthammer – Obama Tried Governing And Failed So He’s To Campaign “Theater” With Health Summit. Complete Full Text, Quotes and Words.