Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said that Obama needs to have a leadership role in the Health Care debate, on CNN's State of the Union with John King Sunday. Hatch is right. The loss of the bipartisan ability of the late Ted Kennedy will make it harder to rely on a Congress that has become more divided by party lines than many can ever remember it being.. The emotional aftermath of Kennedy's passing will not be enough to move the quagmire along either. For Barack Obama, now is the time to take the reins. It's time to lead. Health care reform can be the issue and the template for what the country and the Senate can expect from the Commander in Chief from here on in.
First Obama must take back the authority. He's given it out to a Congress that has proven that it can't enjoy the prosperity of having a the chance to make an impact on its own. For the President, congenial delineation of authority without lending a clear guiding hand has to be over. That may mean putting the gavel down on the extreme notion that if compromise can't be reached, a partisan Health care bill is still an option.
If Obama's approach does NOT change, and Health care becomes a dead issue, then the opposition borne out of Tea Parties and Town Hall meetings will gain in real strength. Real confidence. Not the phony stuff that makes an angry mob appear to be a silent majority. More like the stuff that can make what seemed like a slam dunk second term after a victory in 2012, turn into a whole new political ballgame.
The Summer vacationweek in Martha's Vineyard that ends tonight, should be enough time for Obama to asses his performance and message shaping to date. Let's see how he comes out of the gates when the trip is over. Obama has attempted and exaggerated spreading the power around DC since day one as a way to create distance from the narrow centralized power based approach that defined the Bush approach to many people here and abroad. it's no longer needed. Enough time has passed.
While we're on the topic of the Bush era, let's also suggest that the need for probes into alleged illegal torture methods authorized by the previous administration by Attorney General Eric Holder, should be reviewed before implementation. The President has said that he doesn't want to look back yet in doing so will come off as hypocritical. Then there is Holder, whose job it is to make sure that the rule of law is being followed by our government while former VP Dick Cheney will remind us as he did today on the Sunday morning talk show circuit, that the idea of investigations are simply politically motivated.
That is not to say that Obama should be afraid or intimidated by Cheney or Bush officials. It just that it's worth him being ready to accept that the tighter the grip is made regarding any future code of conduct, the more scrutinized that military "incidents" or misshaps that occur his watch will become as well. The best way to wiggle out of being cornered one day by an Abu Gharib type incident is for Obama to put a stop to the rear view mirror at once. Throwing an indirect verbal slap on the wrist for is enough, using a comment such as "We don't condone torture but we must look ahead." Obama can't waste his time trying to placate to those on the far left who need bloodthirsty revenge on the Bush years. Leave the legal implications against those who tried to keep us safe at all costs in the past. This will help politically by neutralizing GOP claims of diversion, while pragmatically allowing the focus for Washington players to remain on the Health care issue.
The President has to leave Congressional Carrots in Martha's Vineyard and instead, and bring a giant shit kicking stick, back to the Nation's Capital instead. Obama must then knock on Eric's Holder's door and say "Eric, not now, timing is everything." As we've seen this Summer poll ratings change fast. Obama was once untouchable, now he's not. The President's decreased political capital has is not exactly dwindling, but it has become more precious. Not something not to be risked frivolously. For Obama, more will be gained at this time by stepping up his presence through firmer leadership with the Senate, than by taking on a legal issue that brings us back to a time many expected he'd help us forget. Obama has to get tough now by showing who is boss on Capitol Hill, and by saying "no" to anyone trying to put a spotlight on Bush era interrogation practices.
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