Thank you Captain Obvious

Writer for the Washington Post Dan Balz writes After a Bruising August, Time for Obama Team to Regroup. To coin a popular phrase "duh". I suspect Mr. Balz will eventually do a follow up article letting us know that the world is indeed not flat.

Obama won the votes of the American people based on a soundbite platform of change. What TeamObama didn't anticipate is the American people pounding on the doors of legislators looking to collect. Nearly every Gallup Poll done within the last few weeks shows Obama's approval rating falling at a rate that should make Rahm Emmanuel put down his fishing pole and reach for the James Carville playbook.

Obama currently faces opposition from both sides of the aisle with former sychophants like Nancy Pelosi challenging the President to return to his "more liberal" roots, especially in the health care reform arena. With the White House officially stating that the public health care options is now off the table, he is receiving heavy criticism from his very insistent base. "They are now threatening to turn the fight for retaining a public option in the bill into a crusade" states Blaz. With all this discontent from his legislative base, the White House staffers would still have the American public believe that their is a great level of cohesion among the left. It's no suprise his approval rating is falling, he can't even get his cronies on the same page.

If the townhalls were any indication of the level of support regarding the public health care option, you'd think the White House would go back to the drawing board rather than take leave for a vay-cay.

"Former Senate majority leader Bob Dole and former Democratic senator Bill Bradley weighed in with advice to the president over the weekend. Bradley said a grand bargain is still possible, but only if Obama is prepared to put tort reform on the table as an enticement to attract Republican support for universal coverage." Tort reform? I'm sure the Harvard Law grad who spent the majority of his career practicing law would be excited about this possible option...oh wait, no that's right Obama is merely a career politician. Whew. That would've been a toughie.

Granted, Obama does not have to worry about elections until 2012, the legislators who are headed back to Washington have the 2010 elections to worry about. After visiting with their irrate constituents they are far less inclined to be the unified "yes men" they once were, thus will be considerably more difficult to work with than they were prior to the August break.

And as such, I'll sit back and watch their return with a smug grin as they attempt to work out the health care issue.

Anyone got any popcorn?