Naomi Klein: Neoliberalism is to blame ...

[DanTex]

118. I guess it depends what one means by "fight".

He fought for a while, and then when he saw it wasn't happening, he made sure the bill got passed without it.

I agree with you, the language in that article is not fighting, it is looking to compromise. But that was written in late September, pretty far along in the process.

And, yeah, maybe if Obama fought harder or longer or differently, he could have gotten a better outcome. Then again, he might have gotten a worse outcome. I don't see anything that would have brought Lieberman or Baucus onboard, but who knows.

As far as the other speculation, yeah I see your argument. And a point in favor of that argument is that the Dems could hardly be in worse shape right now, though it's questionable whether taking a harder line and refusing to pass compromise bills would improve their situation. And, truthfully, things could be worse: we could have lost in 2012, the GOP could have a filibuster-proof senate, etc.

Also, if the GOP does get rid of ACA, they will be taking away insurance from millions of people, which is a substantial political risk. If ACA never passed, then the GOP wouldn't have to do that. They could just proceed with their race-to-the-bottom plan without ripping people away from their healthcare coverage first.

Overall, I think Obama's flaw wasn't being too compromising, it was messaging. He was great at messaging when he was a candidate, but then in office he was aloof and professional, and kind of assumed that his aloof professionalism was going to get the country on board with his policies. But it didn't, and it especially didn't help downballot. As far healthcare, people by and large like the benefits ACA provides, but they don't like "Obamacare". You read anecdotes of people trying to get people signed up for Obamacare in certain states avoiding the term "Obamacare" because if you just explain to people how it works, they like it even though they "don't want Obamacare". That's a marketing problem, not a problem with the law.