Legal Commentary

The Irrelevant President

By Big Tent Democrat

Ezra Klein calls tonight's SOTU from President Obama "the most important [speech]" of his Presidency. Perhaps so. But since the Village Dems and bloggers have declared Obama irrelevant and impotent, does tonight's speech matter to anyone but Obama? Kevin Drum writes:

[I]s President Obama going to rally the nation behind the cause of ambitious, wide-ranging healthcare reform in tonight's State of the Union address? It sure doesn't sound like it. [. . .] If Obama isn't willing to step up and take ownership of passing the current plan, what chance is there that Congress is willing to get out on a limb and take the risk itself? Not much, I'm afraid. I sure hope Obama and his advisors screw up their courage on this and do the right thing before the end of the day.

Perhaps. But it is hard to square the calls for Obama to "step up" with the earlier Village argument that Obama was a slave to the whims of the Senate.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 27, 2010 (boomark / email).