Press Conference Liveblogging

As an average American and being nowhere close to your level of knowledge regarding this matter I thought he did a good job of explaining things in the context of a press conference. Perhaps you know too much, which is a good thing, and that makes it seem like a poor performance. As an aside I am impressed that he can think and function at the level he does at 8pm at night after a long day at work.

I got a different read on it. The audience wasn't just the electorate, but the WH press corps. They got the unflappable, the pragmatic, the "this isn't about me" President. His main message that the status quo and the inertia that plagues Washington weren't options was delivered often. I thought it was effective.

Obama is not a natural high-energy hypomanic like Bill Clinton or Teddy Roosevelt. He has his good times and his bad times, so he needs to schedule his days carefully so he isn't either too low or too burnt out when he needs to be at his best.

Plus, he needs a lot of practice, like he insisted upon for his 2004 Keynote address.

Also, can we stop pestering him to stop smoking and just let him self-medicate in peace?

I'd give it an A+. He doesn't know what's in the legislation, he can't explain how we're going to pay for it besides exorbitant taxes on high income earners, he can't explain how medical care is not going to be rationed, he can't explain how its not going to crowd out over crowded waiting rooms. So for anyone not waiting the government to socialize medicine and take over 1/6th of the economy, ya I'd say he helped defeat the program.

Before you jump on me, I'm all for everyone having access to healthcare. But not this plan. Because as sure as shit they pass this program six months later we' find out just how bad this legislation is. And if you don't believe that just look at the Stimulus package. Had he reached out even just a bit to Republicans to incorporate a few of their ideas, he would have actually gotten some bipartisan support and he wouldn't be bogged down.

Mark this failure to launch squarely on Obama's shoulders.

I'm not an Obama fan, as such. Didn't vote for the guy. But the snippets I heard on the radio of today's press conference seemed rational and well-reasoned. I give him a lot of credit for going to the mat for all this, and am energized to help make it a reality by doing my best to help shove my mushy Senator (Feinstein) into his camp.

I think Anon in Portland (upthread) prolly put it best: "He didn't dumb it down for the American people -- and if that's to his discredit, then we don't deserve reform."

Patrick Meighan
Culver City, CA

Once again, statements off the cuff ramble. That's pretty normal.

I thought his opening was good. I think that we couldn't hear most of the people shouting at him was actually a problem.

"He's let all his major policies be defined by someone else. He hasn't put the screws to obstructionists in his own party. He's letting Netanyahoo push him around with impunity"

I keep on hearing how Obama's too passive and his opponents are in the driving
seat. And then, one by one, his opponents melt down with a divorce scandal, an
incompetent spendthrift campaign, an irresponsible VP pick ... and Obama wins.
Easily. Either he's really really lucky, or he's got some serious chops. Either way,
I wouldn't bet against him.

On the specifics of healthcare, the House bill is ok; the Senate bill will be crappy, since
Baucus is involved. But the key question is who gets picked for the conference
committee to resolve the differences ? Obama understands that perfectly, and that's
the point where Obama and Emanuel will be respectively sweet-talking and threatening
the key players.

As for Netanyahu, he's not fooling anybody. My bet is that his government won't last
to the end of the year. Obama and Clinton have laid out a decent policy, and I expect
they'll do what it takes to implement it, slowly and patiently.

Agree with your comments, especially considering what he needed to accomplish tonight-- scare the shit out of the blue dogs and provoke the republicans into saying stuff/acting obviously stupid. Right now, he needs to talk more like a coach: (bring it on-- we'll take them out-- get out of the way) and less like a prof.

I agree with the other commenters who disagree with you, Kevin. I am visiting my parents tonight, and after walking in their door this evening, the first thing my mom said to me was "didn't you think the President sounded good?" Initially, I was not impressed with his press coference either, which I listened to in the car. However, knowing my parents are not super political people, vote Republican or Democrat depending on whatever issues are loudest at the moment, my mom asking me that kind of changed my mind. If Obama reached them, hopefully he reached others who are as equally as a-political as they are.

He took some needed potshots at the Republicans, turned the focus onto those flesh-and-blood people suffering from the current system, and succeeded in enumerating the unacceptability of the status quo. The issue is complex, there are details to be worked out, and it does not lend itself to the kind of crisp answers you value so much.

Wrong, Kevin. BHO did great last night. He showed mastery, seriousness, caring. He took down a lot of RNC talking points (and more than a few "Blue Dog" ones as well).

This is what government by competent people looks like: explaining complex things in an effort to garner support. My guess is that two weeks from now this will be cited as a (the?) turning point when health insurance reform became a done-deal.

It seems to me Obama is going about this the wrong way. The elephant in the closet is the $35,000,000,000,000 in unfunded future Medicare liabilities. This is the problem. According to the NYT this morning 90% of American's have health insurance (this shocked me because the number they have been using is 40,000,000 people, why suddenly is it now only 10%?). So trying to solve the unfunded Medicare problem by addressing the insurance needs for 10% of the population is never going to work unless there is just a huge paradigm shift that simply results in higher taxes and reduced cost via rationing. Why not address the Medicare problem by itself head on and admit that your Congressmen and women have delivered a program to past generations that future generations can never pay for. Fix Medicare but don't do it by a sleight of hand by offering insurance for all. That will only make it worse.

I disagree with you Kevin. I am one of those who is OK with his own health care packages. I am on Medicare and I have a food supplemental. It had not registered with me how much this means to the economy and what the prognosis is for long term debt. That current structures will break us. So I am one of the target audience. The comfortable majority. I got more motivated. It worked. What do you want, Kevin? If he is brisk and simple he is not telling the truth. If he attacks he loses support in the Congress. This is his wonk self and he hit the notes that he needed to. I agree with the commenter above who reminds us that he has the press to influence. I heard some of the usual doubters be more positive this morning in the teevee at the gym which is the only place I get to see the bastards do their talking head stuff. If you think Obama rambled you should have seen Rudy on CNN. He was almost in St. Vitus Dance mode.