Tuesday, December 07, 2010
GIVE IT TO THEM
I like Obama's response to the liberal purists (and also the conservatives, "like negotiating for hostages") but it is his own side that gets the beating. Well deserved.
Obama reserved some of his harshest criticism for liberals, who he scolded for being "sanctimonious" purists who wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if they got their way. To drive home his point, he complained about the way liberals behaved during the health care debate, sounding like an unappreciated lover."Somehow this notion that we are willing to compromise too much reminds me of the debate we had during health care," Obama said. "This is the public option debate all over again. So I pass a signature piece of legislation where I finally get health care for all Americans, something that Democrats have been fighting for for 100 years, but because there was a provision in there that they didn't get that would have affected maybe a couple million people, even though we got health insurance for 30 million people, and the potential for lower premiums for 100 million people that somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise. Now if that's the standard against which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it, we will never get anything done. People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position, and no victories for the American people. And we will be able to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about ourselves about how good our intentions are, how tough we are."----Philip Klein's summary in the American Spectator
Labels: Administration Obama, lefty fringe, professional left