Up until now, President Barack Obama has been all too willing to defer to Congress on health care reform, allowing seemingly every member to throw in their own little pet project with just a pinch of pork. This approach has failed; Americans expect bold ideas from this White House. It’s hard to convince people to agree to a trillion dollar overhaul without a central moral vision.
If the comments of Robert Axelrod, Obama’s chief political strategist, are any indication, Obama may finally be preparing to step into the fray.
“There are a lot of ideas on the table and now it’s time to pull those strands together and finish the work,” Axelrod said.
Obama lost round one of this debate by refusing to articulate and argue for a unified plan. If he wants to win round two and pass the most sweeping domestic legislation in decades, he’ll have to become the leader his campaign promised.
