It's not the tactic I would have chosen, but it looks like a good one.  

Both during the presidential campaign and in office Obama has been an excellent counterpuncher.  He's willing to take a punch (or several) in order to figure out his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, and then choose the situation in which to launch a counterattack.

It's worth repeating (for all the nervous progressives out there) that in addition to being a good counterpuncher, Obama has been remarkably consistent about his goals, aims and messages:

He said he'd wind down the war in Iraq and escalate in Afghanistan, and he did.

He said he'd rebuild America's alliances around the world, and he has.

He said he'd work to stop nuclear proliferation, and he has.

He said health care, energy and education would be the focus of his domestic agenda, and they are---both legislatively and in the budget.

He said he'd end Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and he's moving to do that.

For progressives, the challenge is how to pick fights with the opposition (Republicans, Corporations) so that a center-left president like Obama has more political space to accomplish progressive ends.

There's an obvious pattern here:

It started with the silly budget freeze bs; it was followed with David Axelrod and them explaining to Chris Bowers their new strategy ( http://openleft.com/diary/17170/axelrod-changing-senate-rules-to-allow-51-votes-for-passage-a-worthy -discussion ); it was then followed by the State of the Union, especially regarding energy reform as Tarheel pointed out; it followed through with Obama's smackdown in Baltimore; and now Orzsag has elevated Paul Ryan's ridiculous budget proposals.

Not just Orzsag, but Obama mentioned it in Baltimore, and they have continued to mention it. Now they're going to have a vote in the House that goes against it:

Dems To Force GOP Vote On Anti-Social Security Privatization Resolution

They are attacking conservatism head-on. The question is, do the Democrats have the balls to do it? They haven't gone on the offensive like this in decades; Republicans have honed their strategy and messaging for the same period that Democrats have failed to articulate and challenge conventional wisdom.

We shall see. This is bold, it's daring, and dare I say, it could move this country to the left if successful.

I'm curious if this gambit would work:

When Obama has his big bipartisan HCR meeting on the 25th, they're not debating the current legislation, but rather they're debating how to REVISE the current legislation - as in an Amendment.  Everyone debates about how to fix the current legislation, they attempt to hash out an Amendment to vote on, which of course won't pass.  But once it's clear it wouldn't pass on it's own, that "last-ditch-bipartisan Amendment" would just be done through reconciliation.

This would limit the scope of the changes because of the possible reconciliation aspect, and still give reassurance to the House that fixes to the Senate bill are coming.  All while giving the Dems a great negotiating position since they would know that they really wouldn't HAVE to give up anything.  Just like the GOP uses their 100% "no" vote as a backbone, the Dems could use the fact that in the end it will only take 50 votes to give themselves leverage during a debate.

Thoughts?

__________________________________________________
Decisions are made by those who show up.

I posted this item below yesterday.  My hope is that the White House will keep it simple stupid and clearly explain the hcr bill.  They have got to circumvent the media and the GOP disinformation and get the facts to the American people.  Senator Sheldon Whitehouse makes the case.  

-----------------------------------------------------
My hero, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, gave an amazing speech on the floor of the senate on December 20, 2009.  It was an indictment of the Republican obstruction and delay on the HCR bill.  He rips them to shreds. I really wish it had received more attention.  It's a must see. Simply amazing.

The phrase that rang out to me was when he said when the health care bill is passed, the lying time will be over for the GOP.

I am convinced that as soon as this bill is signed into law, the mood of the country will change dramatically.  The realization that quality, affordable health care is a right and not a privilege for all Americans will be monumental.   The only party that can make this happen is the Democrats.

The c-span video is below, Senator Whitehouse starts around 15:20 mark:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/290819-3

Whatever is achieved the republicans will vote against it in the end, but this could be the strategy of President Obama. He will show before the mid-terms that the republicans are all mouth and no substance! Can't wait.

Politicians...don't piss down our backs and then tell us it's raining!

ok, let me get this straight
The republicans and conservatives spent the last two years saying Obama's a foreign-born socialist who hates america and white people. Then, when a poll shows they really DO believe all that, the conservatives cry foul.

Now, after spending the past year saying Obama needs to listen to conservative and Republican ideas about health care/insurance reform, they finally get an invitation from the president to share those ideas, and they cry foul again?

hilarious.

John Mccain Called his wife WHAT??

I think this could potentially be a great idea, though I could easily see GOP folks trying to bore us to death and basically filibuster the thing with blather. I'm sure Chuck Grassley could go on for days about revenue-replacement schemes for rural providers and what not.

Obama should tell the GOP (and the Dems) that anyone with a new idea should have it scored by the CBO before the health care summit. That way, there's no b.s. about some cockamamie GOP plan to enact tort reform and somehow save trillions.

Everyone who shows up needs to have their idea scored by the CBO. Simple as that. The Dems could come with the public option, which saves $100 billion. Maybe Bernie Sanders could present single-payer, which would save even more.

But the summit has to be contentious, it has to have real facts on display, and it can't turn into a kumbaya filibuster festival for GOP blowhards.

A great deal depends on how the msm covers this.  The wingers are surpassingly good at getting their narratives covered.  Dems, not so much.  I mean, for gawd's sake, Steve Benen reported on Sunday show coverage of the Shelby holds -n SHELBY SHAKEDOWN SHUT OUT?:

"Nevertheless, to Mark's question, there are five Sunday public affairs shows, and four blew off the controversy altogether. The fifth mentioned it, but suggested to viewers that the story isn't especially important."

Really.  So how will a HCR summit be any different?  Obama got good press after the Repub Q&A, but Hensarling is still out there saying Obama was wrong about the deficit.  And raising money on it.  This despite the fact that PolitiFact said Hensarling was wrong.  On top of that, Politifact failed in their analysis, because they compared the deficit under Obama (with his full disclosure rules) versus the deficit under Bush (with vast amounts of deficit hidden using accounting tricks).
 

interesting to see how Obama applies the CBO on their programs/ideas. His success or failure will rest on how well he can prove to the CSPAN cameras that the Rep have offered up word boxes with nothing edible inside.

To me this Amazing. 17 days.

17 days for Dems to get more scared, to say more stupid pathetic stuff on TV, to harden their hearts against any bill. 17 days is too long, they'll want healthcare to go away even more after 17 more days.

________
The Raptor of Spain: A Webserial
From Muslim Prince to Christian King (Updated Nov. 24)

Ask the GOP the following questions:

1. Are you for eliminating pre-existing conditions?
   
2. Caps on service?
   
3. EXACTLY how many people would be covered by these Republican plans (the number is somewhere in the vicinity of 3-5 million, versus the 30 million the Dem plan would cover)
   
4. Why are you against ending the anti-trust exemption
   
5. Are you for lowering the age of Medicare to 55? Actually, I'd go for 50 - get an AARP Card, get your Medicare Card - that should be the Dem slogan.

make them answer these questions

I have no idea what he is doing with this.  There are no sticks associated with it.  He is not doing anything.

It will be a useless exercise in verbiage, and we will see nothing out of it.

Obama's administration is already a total failure.  Unless he does an on-side kick, it's "one and done" for him.

if he doesn't come armed with a very big stick, especially when it comes to his own party's caucus, the whole thing will, indeed, be nothing more than a photo op.

sternly worded letters from his hhs secretary aren't going to have much of an effect on the populist attitude when the big insurance co's are so confidant that their bought and paid for democRATs are so in the bag that they're pulling fuck you...whataya gonna do about it stunts like this:

The Obama administration called on Anthem Blue Cross on Monday to justify its controversial new rate hikes of as much as 39% for individual policyholders...
...

The increases have triggered widespread criticism from Anthem members and brokers, who say the premium hikes will put health coverage out of reach for some and very costly for others.
...

"These extraordinary increases are up to 15 times faster than inflation and threaten to make healthcare unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of Californians, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet in a difficult economy."
...

The insurer has declined to say how high it would be increasing rates or how many people would be affected. But brokers who sell these policies say the increases are many and large. They said they are fielding numerous calls from customers incensed over premium increases of 30% to 39%, saying they come on the heels of similar jumps last year.
...

 Anthem's "strong financial position" made the increases "even more difficult to understand." ...... profit reported by its Indianapolis-based parent company WellPoint Inc. Last month the company announced an eightfold increase in profit for the last three months of 2009...

lat

the democRATic corporate whores in the senate are the problem, not the damned RATpublicans...they're not going to vote for it...period. it's long past time for obama to take an aggressive hand in this issue and move it forward. failure to do so, especially in the woefully ill-conceived spirit of bipartisanship, is political suicide in 2010 and 2012.

the revolution will not be televised...

In calling it an "auto da fe," this blogger is not saying it's a "terrible idea on Obama's part." He's saying that it's a fiendishly clever idea on Obama's part and going along with it is a bad idea on the Republicans' part. He's saying that president Obama has invited the poor little Republicans to a trial by the Inquisition, the outcome of which is certain.
    Rare to see a Republican blogger who is (a) reality-based and (b) candid, much as I disagree with his priorities.
    Unfortunately for the Republicans, Obama's called their bluff, and they have to go along with it. Of course they will try to play it to their advantage, but, as you point out, it's basically not to their advantage.

au·to-da-fé
Pronunciation: ˌau̇-tō-də-ˈfā, ˌȯ-tō-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural au·tos-da-fé -tōz-də-\
Etymology: Portuguese auto da fé, literally, act of the faith
Date: 1723

: the ceremony accompanying the pronouncement of judgment by the Inquisition and followed by the execution of sentence by the secular authorities; broadly : the burning of a heretic