Is Barack Obama's personality crippling his presidency?

[7,052,770]

He could have had single payer

W.T.F.

[7,052,770]

He could have had single payer

W.T.F.

What a reasoned argument. Care to post a tumbler meme while your at it?

I'm absolutely incredulous that you think Obama could have ever passed single payer.  Do you just not follow politics at all?  He wouldn't have gotten 40 Senate votes for it, much less 60.  Take the Obamacare backlash and square it, and Congressional support would have fallen even further.  There is simply no way he could have done it, and I can't believe someone would actually say he could have.

[7,052,770]

Give it up, Sanchez.  There is absolutely no way in Hell single-payer was ever remotely plausible under Obama, period.  If he'd tried that, there would have been no "compromise on Obamacare."  The backlash would have caused us to get nothing.

[7,052,770]

You guys got nothing in the end anyway, so what does it matter?

We got the most important piece of legislation in decades, actually, and we wouldn't have if Obama had tried single payer instead.  And while today's decision is a bill, I realize Obama probably didn't have a choice.  It certainly won't kill the law, just slow the positive effects some.

On an unrelated note, can I assume the new I-MS avatar is because of the decision by the administration today?

Protest against Obama not having a spine and the Democratic Party as a whole not presenting a unified voice, splintering so easily.  If we don't cut this out, get Landrieu, etc., in line, 2014 will be 2010 all over again.

[7,052,770]

I am aware that the votes didn't exist. You make them exist. And if you can't get the renovations, you might as well burn the damn house down.

OK, I'm pretty sure you're just trolling us all now.  Obama should've used his dictatorial powers or else ESP to force dozens of Senators and Representatives into voting for single-payer, despite them having never given any indication that they would, and even though it took SO much wrangling just to get Obamacare.

[7,052,770]

I am aware that the votes didn't exist. You make them exist. And if you can't get the renovations, you might as well burn the damn house down.

OK, I'm pretty sure you're just trolling us all now.  Obama should've used his dictatorial powers or else ESP to force dozens of Senators and Representatives into voting for single-payer, despite them having never given any indication that they would, and even though it took SO much wrangling just to get Obamacare.

Again, I am wondering if you all read my last post? Did you just bold a random sentence and not read it? If LBJ rose from the grave and was elected in 2008, he would have got this done. Obama can bully these people, using the leadership and DCCC. He can cut them off. He can tell them that they won't get any support against the inevitable Tea Party wave in 2010. He needs to do a political suicide bombing-what does 20 seats matter when you have lost the House in a landslide? If they do vote against him, and he losses, well, too hell with them. He would have fought and lost.

Again, you can't just force people in Congress to vote how you want them to.  I don't really know what else to tell you.  Single payer could not have been done, period.  There is absolutely no way it could have happened.  The ghost of LBJ couldn't have done it.  You can twist a few arms here and there (which is what it took to pass Obamacare), but you can't twist the arms of literally half of your caucus.  How many Democratic representatives support single-payer?  Less than 100?  Sure, he could have gotten some of the 100+ to go along with it, but you can't force something through that less than half of your party publically supports.

This is as ridiculous as saying Obama could have forced a nationwide gay marriage approval in 2008.  Or that Bush should have forced through a nationwide ban on gay marriage.  If you are serious about all of this, it's probably the most mind-numbing stupid point any serious, generally-respected poster has tried to make in years.

The ACA is imploding.

... False?

It has been disaster after disaster.

The glitchy website has been unfortunate, but no one will care about that once it's working.  Obviously, if it never works, that's a disaster, but there's no reason to think that's the case.

Most Teabaggers think the ACA IS single payer.

That's not a literally true fact.  They may think it's as bad as single payer, but I don't think very many people are under the impression that they will be going on Medicare next year.

There is not much of a difference here. He has achieved nothing, and is still hated as if he did achieve something. Is that really any different than trying (and failing) to pass single payer?

Objectively, Obama has transformed the American health insurance system.  Like it or not, it is incomprehensible that someone could seriously describe it as "achieving nothing."  On the other hand, if Obama had tried to pass single payer, there is a 100% chance that it would have failed and he would have achieved nothing.  And the backlash from that colossal failure would have likely prevented any chance of passing Obamacare afterward.