Say that ObamaCare legislation was a little more costly than expected

You don't say Mr. President:

“I made the decision to go ahead and do it, and it proved … probably, actually, a little more costly than we expected,” Obama said, “partly because I couldn't get the kind of cooperation from Republicans that I had hoped for. We thought that if we shaped a bill that wasn’t that different from bills that had previously been introduced by Republicans, including the Republican governor of Massachusetts who’s now running for president, that you know we would be able to find some common ground there. And we just couldn’t.”

This statement, excerpted from Obama's interview on 60 Minutes last night, marks the beginning of the 2012 election season.  Obama ties the vastly unpopular health care law to Mitt Romney rather purposefully wouldn't you say?  Does anyone really believe that Obama purposely shaped the bill to gain Republican support?  Anyone who believes that already drinks the Kool-Aid or was asleep during the entire process.

While Obama makes some effort here to address the impact of health care legislation on the 2010 midterm elections, what we hear is really nothing new.  First he blames Republicans and then blames the messaging.  It seems fairly obvious though that Obama ignored the outrage in America in service of his agenda and legacy such as that will be.

The question remains, will he continue on this same path or recognize he presides over a center-right country?  It seems even many on the left have their doubts:

President Barack Obama has performed his act of contrition. Now comes the hard part, according to Democrats around the country: reckoning with the simple fact that he’s isolated himself from virtually every group that matters in American politics.

Congressional Democrats consider him distant and blame him for their historic defeat on Tuesday. Democratic state party leaders scoff at what they see as an inattentive and hapless political operation. Democratic lobbyists feel maligned by his holier-than-thou take on their profession. His own Cabinet — with only a few exceptions — has been marginalized.

The list goes on and on, of those Obama has managed to alienate in his 2 year stint in the White House.  Read the rest at the link.  Obama has quite a bit of work to do ahead of 2012 but let's not kid ourselves, Dems with their noses out of joint will not throw him to the wind come election time.  That is Obama's specialty and the one thing that comes naturally to him.   Maybe the Democratic establishment should have taken time to know him better before they put the fate of their party in his hands.

More on that at Memeorandum



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