tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post6983659572144508412..comments2024-03-28T20:47:48.468-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: IF I WASN'T SO OLD, I WOULD CRYRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-80671483137334671532010-01-23T15:01:46.841-05:002010-01-23T15:01:46.841-05:00That is one handsome, delightful grandson. I ough...That is one handsome, delightful grandson. I ought to know, as I'm his Grandmama.Rev. Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13103430961915372445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-26988015530304440402010-01-20T13:53:04.046-05:002010-01-20T13:53:04.046-05:00I agree with most of this. It was always going to...I agree with most of this. It was always going to be the case that a health care reform bill would be the product of deals and compromises. You cannot reform 15% of the American economy without complex deals, etc. But still.<br />People I know who know Obama say that Obama's besetting weakness is that when he is convinced that he is right about some issue -- EVEN WHEN HE REALLY IS -- he cannot see that he must bring others along, and persuade them of the necessity of what he is doing. The deals were necessary, but the failure to frame them in a way the public could understand is disastrous. Now the question is: Can he learn from what has gone wrong?Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-45877079639168576772010-01-20T13:02:15.254-05:002010-01-20T13:02:15.254-05:00Obama ran on a change campaign. Like it or not, t...Obama ran on a change campaign. Like it or not, true or untrue, there is a stong perception that he has not delivered on that change. While it may be impossible for him to have done what he promised to do, and while the American public is incredibly fickle and may blame Obama for what he inherited, he does not appear to have pushed for the change he promised. As you mention, he has somehow allowed the 'anti' forces in the country to define the public discourse, time after time. Massachusetts is perhaps the culmination of this - a republican was able to define the democrat,non-washington insider, as the washington insider and as the anti change candidate. Witness the supporters of Scott Brown chanting 'yes we can' last night. Whether legitimate or not, people don't see a lot of change going on - 2 wars, a watered down healthcare bill that has been framed as the product of back room deals and politics as usual, and an economic team that could have been part of the Bush whitehouse... that has been slow on pursuing policies that would help regular people as opposed to wall street. It may be more perception than reality (perhaps you can tell that I think there is more than just perception going on here), but in politics the failure to realize that 'perception is reality' is a pretty big failure, and the consequences of such a failure are disastrous for this country.TowerDudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18056243729855624407noreply@blogger.com