Against the wind

I have caught up on my reading, and I found some good advice for President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress from Matt Bai in The New York Times Magazine and from Dan Gerstein, one of the sharpest political analysts anywhere, in Forbes magazine. As Democrats and the president attempt to reach consensus on a healthcare bill that can unite their own party, they must bend to public opinion or risk the consequences.

Both Bai and Gerstein assert that Democrats misread the election of 2008, and in the results saw a movement leftward and a new embrace of government. Now the country has turned against government, but the Democrats in control of government keep pushing their agenda against the winds of public opinion.

"Whatever the reason, our faith in the public sector is frail, and this may well be the underlying problem confronting Democrats as they enter this last, critical phase in the healthcare debate. At bottom, President Obama is asking us to believe once again that government can do big things really well, and in doing so he is running up against both our shared experience and the accepted wisdom of the age," writes Bai.

Gerstein writes that a $1 trillion price tag and a public plan for healthcare reform were a risky strategy for Democrats to undertake: "It's clear the party severely overestimated its mandate and underestimated the public's growing unease with the government's massive growth over the last year. What would have been a hard sell in any environment has turned into an epic challenge. Yet the Democrats have been charging ahead as if it's still November 2008, oblivious to the change in the electorate's mood."

Bai says there is still time to change course. "Before he can win support of his own ambitious vision, Obama, too, may need to explicitly acknowledge the truths of the last era — that not every program born of compassion ultimately proves ennobling, that just because you don't want to raze big government doesn't mean you shouldn't hold it accountable for its failures. Americans understand all of this already. They're more likely to turst a president who seems to understand it too."

Wise words.


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