Politics with Marc Ambinder

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Jun 19 2009, 1:33 pm by Marc Ambinder

Your Twitter Questions And My Answers

@jbennet: asks: "Who does Obama really listen to on foreign policy? Put differently -- who's running foreign policy?"

@marcambinder: I'll get in trouble, but, in rough order: Gates, Biden, Axelrod/Rahm, Rice, Jones, Clinton, Petraeus, Kerry, Lugar, McDonough, Rhodes, Sutphen, Flournoy

@egocrata asks: "Why this "health reform expensive" meme? The feds pay more, insurance ind. get less, consumers pay MUCH less. Savings for all."

@marcambinder: Over 15 yrs, yes. Short term requires $1 tril in "start up" money at least. And not clear that consumers will pay much less...they'll just get better care.

@terionright asks: "Will ABC Healthcare Commericial address whether Obama's program covers illegal immigrants? They are not answering. #tcot"

@marcambider: probably not. Obama doesn't have his own program; question is better asked of Congressional Democrats. Stop picking on ABC.

@Coffee260 asks "Why is it acceptable to act in the most immoral fashions as long as it's put into the category of "politics"

@marcambinder Fashionable immortality is the new green, I guess. Real answer: it isn't. Vote 'em out. (Unless you can't...)

@azizhp asks "question: why doesn't the Obama Administration invite questions the way you just did?"

@marcambinder: Ask them: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ O

@drjjoyner asks "If the Dems can't push their healthcare plan now, given Obama's approval and Senate numbers, how will they ever do it?"

@marcambinder: Probably, but not for another couple of years at least. Time is auspicious now. Political winds still blowing favorably. But they'll shift rapidly this fall.

@lawyer_thomas asks: "Will Democrats be able to blame Republicans for problems when Republicans are seen as very weak?"

@marcambinder: Dems are less popular these days, but Republicans are allergic to popularity. That's one reason why Obama and his Congress still have headwinds despite the economy and deficits.'

@lavaaaron "Is Gay Marriage debate/DOMA, etc a political liability for Obama?"

@marcambinder: Better q is: is it priority worth expending pol. capital? Not really, in his view.




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Comments (2)

24AheadDotCom

Stop picking on ABC

What kind of a hack would write something like that? Oh, yeah, Ambinder is the type of hack who'd write something like that.

Meanwhile, Obama has already implied that his health care plan includes illegal aliens. Either that, or he keeps getting a number off by millions, or he's simply lying.

If we had reporters who did real reporting - unlike the MSM and Ambinder - we'd already know the answer. As it is, our only hope is for regular citizens to go to his events and call him on his statements in order to find out exactly where he stands. The MSM and Ambinder aren't going to do that, we need to.

Rillion

@lavaaaron "Is Gay Marriage debate/DOMA, etc a political liability for Obama?"

@marcambinder: Better q is: is it priority worth expending pol. capital? Not really, in his view.

***

I think teh gays are deciding that we are going to become a distraction from the rest of Obama's agenda until he does something to build some real trust. So far he seems to be trying to figure out how little he can offer us so we will shut up without him having to expand any of his politcal capital. But the problem is as he tries doling out little morsels his administration keeps insulting us (DOMA brief), which is not going to build any trust, no matter what morsels he offers along with the insults.

In a way Obama is the victim of the energy that he harnessed to win. He told us we needed to be the change we wanted. So now we are doing that and the problem is that the Administration has decided that not only do they not want to led, they are unwilling to even follow.