Obama isn't trying to placate Republicans

I see this constantly tossed about, but I see little to no evidence that Obama is soliciting the advice of congressional Republicans in either the health care reform bill or his other initiatives.

He did try - foolishly, IMO - to get ample Republican support for the stimulus package, watering it down. Since then, their approach has very clearly been aimed at keeping conservative Democrats on board. Even the health care negotiations with Olympia Snowe are less about securing the cooperation of Senate Republicans than they are about getting the support of people like Kent Conrad, Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln, Evan Bayh, and Ben Nelson. (Snowe is actually to the left of most of those Democrats on health care reform issues.)

The negotiations with Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi were Max Baucus' adventure; the White House gave him time and space to see if he could get an agreement not because they valued getting Republican support but because they were simply trying to get something out of committee and onto the Senate floor. And they've told Baucus to shut those talks down. (IMO, they should have done that sooner.)

Now, you can argue that he shouldn't be trying to get the support of conservative Democrats. But that's a very different thing from claiming that he's trying to get the support of Republicans.

I know I'm not saying anything you don't already know.

The problem isn't that Obama's placating R's or D's or whatever.

It's that he's buying into the same WRONG ideas that haven't worked over the last 30 years.

This was especially evident during the stimulus and it's appearing just as evident in the health care discussion, where preserving profits are CLEARLY the number one priority.

good faith. (Grassley is a good example) He's grabbing the high ground.

The weak-kneed Democrats have been the problem from the beginning. Persuading someone without any guts to take a courageous stand is difficult and when you throw in the massive amounts of money these particular Senators are receiving from the insurance and health care industries it becomes an almost impossible task. I watched one of Kent Conrad's town halls the other day and the guy was just totally pathetic. Little wonder the public option is in such deep trouble.

Haven't heard this tried and true chestnut here for a while. LMAO!

What do they mean when they say he is trying to be bipartisan? And Rahm tells the progressives to sit down and shut up. Who is he trying to negotiate with?

I'm not into the types of blanket statements - we'll see who's with reform and who's against it, regardless of the labels you choose to apply to Senators and others that are necessarily associated with the process. Those Presidents who've chosen to negotiate in a vacuum have all failed miserably.

It's where the money comes from, after all. We need to get the corporate money out of politics, but it's hard to do when the people who could get it out are the ones getting the money....

Apparently some small-minded nitwit here doesn't even want you to suggest something so common sense as the dull-blade unrecced this before I could rec it.