Westen: Obama failing to lead
November 3, 2009 at 12:51 pm by Andisheh Nouraee in NewsIn an essay published on Huffington Post, Emory University professor and Democratic messaging consultant Dr. Drew Westen slammed President Barack Obama as a thus-far failed leader.
Leadership is a quality Barack Obama showed on the campaign trail. It is a quality he has failed to show as president.
Westen calls Obama’s handling of the health care legislation the “prototypical” example of how Obama has failed to lead the nation as he promised:
Obama could have told members of Congress when the health care fight began, “If the average American doesn’t have the same quality and range of options at the end of this process that you do, I will not sign any appropriations bill for next year that includes health insurance for federal employees, your family and mine included, because if it’s good enough for us, it’s good enough for the people we serve.” Had the president done that, he would have had populist sentiment at his back, not with its back up against Democrats over “death panels.” [. . . ]
Am I sure that he could have mobilized populist sentiment to mobilize support for health care reform, or is that armchair, 20-20 hindsight punditry? Yes. I polled it 18 months ago, and the idea of the public getting the same quality of care as their elected representatives was wildly popular with everyone, right, left, and center.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
But they don’t wan to give every American the same healthcare that they have.
Some of us on two, some of us on four.
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Sorry, but Westen, and AH are being ridiculous. The insurance exchanges contemplated by the HCR bills DO GIVE everyone access to the same health care that members of congress and federal employees get.
As for the tactical criticism of not promoting it that way, well, we’re going to get that bill anyway. And if you think that the fringe right wouldn’t have come up with “death panels” or something equally stupid to rally around, I can’t help you there.