Time For Leadership

Economist Robert Kuttner adds some detail to Reich's proposal, revealing how much presidential leadership this is going to take:

Option One: The televised summit happens. It's clear once and for all that there is no common ground to be had. And Obama gives the speech we've all been waiting for.

"My fellow Americans, I've gone the last mile to find consensus, but the Republicans have made clear by their actions that they put destruction of my administration ahead of the needs of the American people. I can't let that happen, because the stakes are too high. So I am asking the House to pass the Senate bill, and then to improve the law using the budget reconciliation process."

His approval rating jumps ten points overnight just because the voters admire guts in a leader, and will settle for some sign of a pulse.

Option Two: the Republicans offer him a few scraps. He takes them. Negotiations keep dragging on. Game, set, match, Republicans.

Option Three: Obama attempts to pull off Option One, but the House and Senate Democrats are so sick of this drama, and the bill has become so toxic, that he can't muster the votes. Since the bill passed the House last November 7 by just five votes, one Democrat, John Murtha, has died. A second Democrat has changed parties. And the one Republican who voted for the bill, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, has switched to the opposition. That leaves the Dems down one. The proposed "Cadillac tax" on premiums of good insurance, the diversion of Medicare funds, the punitive mandate on individuals, coupled with the relative free ride for employers who fail to provide insurance, are even more unpopular now than in the late fall. A double defeat for the president.

It would take an uncharacteristic leap of leadership for Obama to opt for a Democrats-only bill; and even more leadership to get the Dems to vote for the thing. If he pulls it off, and also improves the bill along the way, it will mark a welcome change of direction -- but only the beginning of a long road back to the presidency we thought we were voting for.