Are the Wheels Coming off the Bus?
By Frank Hagan | Related entries in health care reformABC News’ Jake Tapper reports on a tiff between Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and the President:
Conyers has been critical of the president’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan and last month he had harsh words on the president’s efforts on health care reform.
Conyers said on the Bill Press Radio Show, as covered by Sam Stein at the Huffington Post: “I’m getting tired of saving Obama’s can in the White House. I mean, he only won (health care reform) by five votes in the House, and this bill wasn’t anything to write home about. The public option is only available, which is the only way you manage cost and get some competition to 1,300 other health insurance companies, the only way he could have got that through is that progressives held their nose and voted for it anyway.”
From the White House: no comment.
Tapper quotes The Hill’s interview where Conyers says the President called him:
[Conyers] says the president “called me and told me that he heard that I was demeaning him and I had to explain to him that it wasn’t anything personal, it was an honest difference on the issues. And he said, ‘Well, let’s talk about it.’” Conyers says he told the president he wasn’t in the mood to “chat.”
Conyers is even more critical of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel:
“That is essentially what Rahm Emanuel has said: Just give us anything and we will declare victory,” said Conyers. “Not only is it not a victory, but when it doesn’t work, guess who will come at him: the same guys that were saying let’s go along with anything… This is all my buddy Rahm Emanuel trying to get anything. But look the bill doesn’t go into effect for three years. Many of the people that we are trying to help will be dead by then.”
Washington gets chilly this time of year.
Cross posted to FrankHagan.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 and is filed under health care reform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
[...] Cross posted to Donklephant [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Soulhuntre, Herdwatching. Herdwatching said: "That is essentially what Rahm Emanuel has said: Just give us anything and we will declare victory" http://bit.ly/5d06xI #hcr #obamafail [...]
December 9th, 2009 at 1:17 am
You know what this sounds like to me? It sounds like a congressman bitching because he has to do the job of a member of our legislature.
If Conyers doesn’t to propose, debate, argue, negotiate, compromise and settle on an imperfect result that fixes some things and not others, then…
…why the F__K did he run for congress in the first place?
And if wants to be the person who makes the decisions of the commander in chief, then he needs to run for President.
Here’s the thing: I just have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who elected Barack Obama to be some sort of Bagger Vance magical negro. Politics is hard, and it’s tough, and the 435 members of congress are hardened pros. Politics is not a game, it’s a business. That means that the President can’t usually put his arm on the shoulder of a senator and say “shucks America needs this” and part the red sea. It’s unfortunate that many folks were ever this saturday-evening-post-naive, but discovering the hard truth was always a “when” question, not an “if” question.
BTW: this whole “we’ll call anything a win” stuff is crap. The current plan is primarily about extending health insurance to way more Americans who don’t have it. Many folks think its about controlling costs, too. I really wish it was but I really don’t think it actually is. Not right now. [Whether it should be is a different debate.]
Now, I personally don’t think that the methods being used to extend coverage to more of the currently uninsured folks is especially clever or artful or creative or even wise, But it will be a win for the people who’ll gain coverage, and that’s a huge part of what Obama said he wanted to do. So objectively, it WILL be a win for him.
It’ll be the signature accomplishment of his admin, celebrated by the left as a huge advancement and excoriated by the right as a disaster regardless of the constellation of effects it brings about. You can take THAT to the bank.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Anyone else find Jake Tapper to be a bit of a tool?
Captcha: chairman hurried.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
blackoutyears – I think Tapper is a great journalist. I have no doubt that he voted for and supports President Obama, but he isn’t going to let the administration push him around. We need that kind of independent streak among reporters (for the record, I don’t think most reporters are intentionally biased, but remarkably lazy … Tapper is not biased nor lazy.)
December 9th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
@kk:
A big part of a Congressman’s job is to advocate for the things he thinks would be best for the country. That’s been Conyers M. O. since Detroit elected him way back when.
The part of legislating you’re talking about (horse-trading) is important, but it’s not the only thing a Representative does. In fact in most countries Legislators don’t actually do any horsetrading. Party leaders do.
December 10th, 2009 at 2:02 am
I understand your point about advocacy, But let me remind you what Conyers said:
Maybe that’s advocacy to you. To me, it’s grandstanding.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:26 am
@kk
Conyers is a Detroiter.
And as far as most Detroiters are concerned there’s no difference.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:51 am
It’s not nice to imply that Detroiters are numbskulls, Nick.
December 13th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Frank, it’s not really Tapper’s journalistic integrity I question, but rather his demeanor. Watch him at the next press conference. Talk about self-important and combative.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:34 am
@kk
I am a Detroiter kk.
I did not mean to imply we’re numbskulls. I meant to imply that we’re so overdramatic that what we call aggressive advocacy the rest of the country would call grandstanding.
For example there was the time Mayor Young referred to the Governor as a motherf*cker. During a press conference. Apparently Young thought the Governor was moving far too slowly on the Poletown plant issue.