Chris Chillizza at the Washington Post picks the Winners and Losers of the Health Care Summit (a.k.a Obama’s Dog and Pony Show on health care). I have a slightly different take. Here is what I saw.
Winners:
Obama: If you are a person who does not follow politics closely and you tuned in to the summit today, you would have found Obama acting like a referee trying to bring the two ideologically opposed parties together. He came off as fair and above the fray (most of the time, John McCain would disagree). You could almost forget that it is HIS nasty bill that was actually the starting point for today’s event.
Republicans: The guys brought their A-Game. They did not come off as stodgy old obstructionist. They did not come off as uncaring and they did not come off as lacking ideas. Since the goal of this sham summit was to turn Republicans into scapegoats, then I would have to say the summit failed. It will be hard to paint the Republicans as the Party of No on this one.
Paul Ryan: This guy stole the show. Ryan was loaded with facts and figures and used them with a very reasonable tone to drive home his points. I pity any Democrat who ever has to take this guy on in a debate.
Loosers
Democrats: Obama did nothing for his party with this summit. While Obama stayed above the fray, it was the Democrats who had to do all the dirty work. Harry Reid’s flat out lie about him not mentioning reconciliation has all the makings for a killer YouTube video. Nancy was as shrill as ever. Since Democrats have had the megaphone on this issue for over a year, all their talking points sounded stale compared to the Republicans who finally got to say their peace.
The American People: Nothing was solved here. Worse yet any good ideas mentioned will not be taken into consideration, because the fix is already in.
What was your take? Who are your winners and losers?
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The Fix
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7 comments:
I pretty much agree with your take on it.
Republicans were definitely winners today for the reasons you listed. It's about time they had a chance to put their ideas forward in a public forum. They also proved that they know more about the Democrat health care bill than Obama does.
Paul Ryan was magnificent - Obama thought so, too...did you notice his face? He didn't look too happy with Paul.
I thought Lamar Alexander came off very well. He is very smart, but not very well known.
Eric Cantor came across ok too. I have mixed feelings about him. Since he is from my state, I hear a great deal about him. He is a little too slick sometimes but he is smart.
I think Paul Ryan could by the VP nominee in 12, as it too early for him to go for the Presidency, and his kids are really young.
I thought Lamar Alexander came off very well. He is very smart, but not very well known.
Eric Cantor came across ok too. I have mixed feelings about him. Since he is from my state, I hear a great deal about him. He is a little too slick sometimes but he is smart.
I think Paul Ryan could by the VP nominee in 12, as it too early for him to go for the Presidency, and his kids are really young.
I will say this again and again.....vote them out in and out on a regular basis. The lure is just too strong, Face it folks, the people we pay to represent us aren't any smarter than we are.
Wapo called McCain a loser, but his points were very valid. The back room deals stink and so do the special deals for certain votes.
If this bill/reform is so great, why the heck does Obama have to bride/payoff some states for their votes?
I disagree with you that Obama is a winner. He came across pissy and cranky. He talked way too much and monopolized a lot of time.
And he was wrong when he said *I'm pretty sure I'm right." about the CBO report.
I had the same broad impression.
Blundered in here. I believe your analysis is dead on.
Freeman
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