When Republicans were waving copies of their healthcare proposals in the air, he should have stopped his speech, pointed at one of them and asked the congressman to bring it up and give it to him.  Or, he could have sent someone to fetch it.  In either case he would have been seen literally asking for the plan.  If it had turned out to be a prop he could have exposed it right there.  If it was an actual plan he could have promised to read it and incorporate any good ideas.

He blew his chance because the thought of reading proposals from Republicans never occurred to him. He’s not really interested in what Republicans or Conservatives have to say.  He’s not really interested in the specifics of a healthcare bill.  He is only interested in passing something identified as healthcare reform with his name on it.  That’s it.

He has gotten himself to a critical juncture in his career and is now scrambling to have any credibility at all.  He has hyped this issue to the max and cannot let it go away – if it does, so does his presidency.  So his only solution is to get something called Healthcare Reform passed by an increasingly contentious and polarized congress.  They could label a McDonald’s menu as The Healthcare Reform Bill and as long as it is called Healthcare Reform he will be happy.  He can spout all he wants to about what he’ll sign or not, but my money is on his signature no matter what is contained in the bill.

Presidential aides have promised Obama will take back the reins after allowing Congress to work its will on his idea, without one specific plan for Democratic lawmakers to defend back home. We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26700.html#ixzz0Q26QqLTu From Politico, read more here..

If he lays out specific plans, he has no wriggle room. If it doesn’t pass It is his huge oboner. He owns it. This doesn’t seem like his normal strategy so I think its unlikely he’ll lay our specific plans without a lot of wriggle room. If he chooses this route the “plans” will seem specific but leave all his options for denial or taking the credit in place while leaving it up to Congress to compromise the bill to such an extent that none of them will survive the wrath of the voters.

If he “urges” Congress to get the job done it will be seen as weak by his constituents because they believe he has the power to do anything and will see this as going back on, or not fulfilling, a campaign promise. Congress will see it for what it is – a lame attempt to set Congress up for the fall when it doesn’t pass while immediately taking credit for it if it does. And reserving the option of wriggling, if after passing it, all goes bad.

This is a risky, desperate move. For his political career it has the potential to be the “mother of all oboners” until now and could lameduckize the balance of his presidency. It also has the potential to take down Pelosi and if you think she doesn’t see that…

If he was thinking smart rather than arrogant he’d sit quietly right now let Congress take the fall.