Here is Obama's biggest fault:

He actually believes that he can reason with the GOP and that they have the best interest of the country in their hearts.

He can't reason with them. They purposely want to be against anything he is for.
They do not have the best interests of the nation in their hearts. They have no hearts.

The reasons ought to have been obvious at least this past week or so when Dodd pretty much kicked him in the teeth.

That instead of stepping into HCR with the presidential big foot, he wants Congress to work together to create a bipartisan bill. Then it's a double victory. First, for health care and second that he can demonstrate that both sides can, indeed, work together.

It's what has made sense to me for some time.

now tell us WHY he is still trying

If he didnt think they were reachable?

He definitely has oratorical and rhetorical skills, but if the person he's debating is too dumb to understand what he says, he might as well be reciting the Iliad.

Isn't it.

the PARASITIC insurance companies harmless.
And he wonders why we are not taking it to the streets demanding they pass his bill.

of health care through using reconcilliation, get good financial regulations passed and pass a kick ass jobs bill. For sure the GOP will try and stop him but some of the GOP will have to vote with Obama or they will loose their seats.

At this point, I would be happy, if so. I'm not clear on Congress's cries about not enough leadership or direction from him on HCR. Is there, or is there not?

nothing GOP all vote against such bills...the dems can run on that in the midterm elections.

A majority of folks in this country want Democrats and Republicans to work together and he will continue to make the effort because he is a wise politician. He knows as well or better than most of us that he ain't going to get much of anything from the Republicans but as long as he makes an effort it will give him some political cover and maybe on a rare occasional a Republican Senator. The man is dealing with a United States Senate system that is totally dysfunctional and when you throw in the mix that a dozen or more Senators from his own party are week-kneed ass-hats it makes his job at this point almost impossible. I have no clue how the man sleeps at night.

At what point does it become a fools game?

shows that it's not good politics at all.

I am not sure what history books you have been reading. Some of the most important legislation in our history was passed working across the aisle with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 being good examples.

I don't know if he really believes that he can work with the GNOP. I'd say that his "outreach" to the GNOP is more his attempt to get good PR (trying to show that he is being "bipartisan"- which most people *say* they want to see more of in Washington DC) and to expose/shame the GNOP for their hypocrisy, obstructionism (for obstructionism's sake), and their falsehoods and exaggerations.

I personally think it's ultimately a good strategy and he has been on fire during the past week in terms of calling the GNOP out on a lot of things and showing them up (on their own "turf", no less) but I DO have to wonder at which point the "hammer" is going to have to come down on the GNOP. My thinking is that he is probably expecting Congress to do the heavy lifting in terms of deciding when to simply find ways to pass legislation over the objections of the GNOP while he is trying to stay above the fray.
Whether that will be a winning strategy or not depends a lot on how willing members of his own party- some of whom have shown themselves to be more than to willing buck him and back the Republicans instead (i.e. Gitmo, HCR)-to finally pull the trigger and say, enough is enough. Harry Reid has proven himself utterly useless as Senate Majority Leader and I haven't seen a whole lot of leadership from MAJORITY WHIP Durbin either but I'm pleased to hear other Senators like Brown, Sanders, and Franken starting to make grumbling noises about the lack of leadership within the party- although I disagree with their contention that it is Obama who is not providing the leadership. I personally believe that it is more the leadership in the Senate (and Congress in general-though Pelosi is doing a pretty good job overall in the House) that is in dire need of improvement.

Are you sure about that one? :shrug:

NOT Scott Brown. I know everybody's focused on him these days but we do (I think) still have our own Senator Brown, right? Or did I get the name for one of Ohio's Senators wrong? :shrug:

jump on board for a few votes. Going of his variable voting record.

It's called politics. It's a game of subtleties and nuance and volleys played out in front of cameras. You just don't recognize it as such.

Geeze, and this is a political board:think:

in his policies but President Obama knows that they want him to fail, however, he is taking the leadership to another level. And this is the President who gave the GOP a year to come on board and now he should just leave them behind and move on. I cannot believe that some Americans want this President to fail, the world looks up to America and if America fails, then the Republicans would have won! For eight years Bush was a joke! Need I say more?

I doubt he believes it at all. He's just hammering the point home that the GOP are nothing but obstructionists by proving it over and over again. I suspect he'll keep doing so until everyone gets it. There are still a lot of people out there who don't.

These open and public debates/forums on health care reform, which he's invited GOP leaders to, aren't something he expects to actually be productive.

He's doing it so that in 2010 and 2012 he can say, "I invited them to the table, but they wouldn't come..."

They prey on feelings of victimization, and they care more about their political
short-term future than the country and its needs. They are harming national
security and national stability all for political gain.

And this is hard for Obama to see. He believes they want the best for the country.
This is his blind spot.

he's just trying to look resonable to undecideds, but in his heart he knows that these evil fucks don't care about the country.

I also feel that he should know better they are too fat, dumb and happy in their life of privilege but maybe they can learn fast....
Someone better be learning fast in DC.

mark

By televising the meetings he can expose them for being obstructionists.

It's perception; he has to make it seem as if he believes that. He knows the GOP's playbook and intentions. For what he's up against, he's handling them the right way.

nominations in the senate. They pretty much have stopped progress. I'm not forgetting that Lieberman and the other fake Democrats assisted the republicans in their obstruction.

1.) If Obama publicly *invites* Republicans to the table for health care debate after this media-led PR fiasco, many Democrats still whine (as they already currently are) about how he's "delusional" in terms of thinking he could actually work with the Republicans.

2.) If Obama ignores the Republicans and charges ahead with pushing HCR through via reconciliation, then he'll be painted by the MSM as "too partisan" and "abusing his power."

He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't -- so I'd rather he go with the first option...force the Republicans to decline his invitations, or lure them into appearing in televised forums where their antics will appear to the public as unreasonable, and EXPOSE these fuckers for all to see!

It's not a fault if you side with your friends. It's human nature.

he believes that corporations have the nation's interest at heart and can be reasoned with . . .