Barack Obama, Mediator-In-Chief

Day One of the health care fight may have gone smoothly, but there is sure to be bitter battles ahead - especially considering some Democrats are even balking at the cost and general ideology of the Obama reform plan.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Isn't Obama too busy pushing the Limbaugh angle to do anything else, Michael?

Scherer continues to operate as a mouthpiece for the insurance industry, treating their statements of concern over health care costs as credible.
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THE INSURANCE COMPANIES ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR PROFITS, AND MAINTAINING THE LAVISH LIFESTYLE OF THEIR EXECUTIVES.
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Like most bought-and-paid-for Village "journalists", not a single word is devoted to the most cost-effective, and consistently proven, alternative -- single payer.

Dog & pony show.

No substance.

Socialist theater.

When I glanced at your headline, I thought it said Medicator-In-Chief.
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Funny how the mind works......

MS, by and large I think the article accurately captures the tenor or yesterday's events.....from I have witnessed from afar as filtered by the MSM. I was struck, however, by your description of the President as "self-anointed".
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With the support of 69,297,997 voters while running on a plank of a new style of leadership, I would argue that the proper descriptive modifier would be "citizen appointed".

Sorry, moving too fast today.
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That's "of yesterday's events" and "from what I have witnessed".

If there is a way of getting this done where we're driving down costs and people are getting health insurance at an affordable rate and have choice of doctor, have flexibility in terms of their plans, and we could do that entirely through the market, I'd be happy to do it that way
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I'm starting to get tired of people regarding "The Market" as if its some kind of magical diety. In any situation, it's important to examine motivations and incentives and assure oursleves that the actual incentives lead to the behavior we want. In many cases, the market is the best way to acheive this but in certain cases it fails miserably.
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There is no 'market' for electricity and phones in many rural areas. There is no 'market' that will assure that hog farms don't pollute their surroundings. And there is no market that will allow people who are already sick to get their health needs paid for.
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There is an appropriate time and place for Government action and it doesn't betray any Conservative principles to acknowlege the fact. We've been lied to for so long that this simple truth is no longer on the radar.

Who really promoted Rush Limbaugh as a leader of the Republican Party?
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http://www.dailykostv.com/w/000954/

"Self-anointed?" Blogger, PLEASE! I understand the concept of accommodating competing viewpoints is alien to the Village, but it's a big part of the president's job – unless the president is a narrow-minded, ill-informed weasel like the one we just ushered out.

You plainly didn't like the outcome of that little democratic exercise we had November 4, 2008, but that doesn't give you license to pretend it never happened.

Obama's petty health care strategy.

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Eeesh, Michael...You think in the short term and generally lack imagination. From the article:

Even as he offered himself up as a head referee more than a star player, Obama left no doubt about who was in charge.

Compare/contrast with Bush (and hell, Clinton) who basically wrote a draft of the legistlation that they wanted enacted and relied on the Congress to push it through...Difference with Obama's way of presiding is that all of these groups are being given outcomes to achieve, not set legislation to pass. This is what good managers do, community organizers do, and it was reflected in the ground-level organizing that occurred during his campaign.
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Yet somehow, you write as if that is a negative. Next:

The task: Figure out how to save money on health spending. The solution, according to almost every person present: Spend more money.

Up-front investment designed to bring future savings, maybe? I mean, a system to streamline paperwork will cost money...and in what ways do you think reducing the costs of educating doctors and nurses could reduce the costs of health care overall? Ditto community health services, fraud investigation, and HIV prevention...In case you haven't noticed, your health care is a long-term issue, calling for more than a Bandaid and a shout-out to fiscal hawks on the Right.
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Oh, by-the-way; the Indian Treaty Room was built during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, during the early part of the era in US history known as the Guilded Age. Your point is doubly ironic, considering that Hayes called in federal troops to suppress striking workers, firing on and killing more than 70 Americans in the process...

Obama is, in your words, the "self-anointed mediator-in-chief"?

We anointed him. In the goddamn election, you pompous fucking asshole.

To be fair, if Michael Scherer can't remember that Barack Obama was elected and not appointed, how is he supposed to remember what George Bush did?
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Getting facts correct is hard work.

Obama is, in your words, the "self-anointed mediator-in-chief"?
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We anointed him in the election, you pompous a$$hole.

But what is self-anointed is the role of mediator-in-chief, his whole innovative and unexpected approach to this issue: Not pushing his own proposal but trying to facilitate a discussion to get some proposal.
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You've just revealed an unbelievable ignorance of American political history. There's nothing at all innovative or unexpected in how Obama has approached this.
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In the postwar era, U.S. presidents thought of themselves in *precisely* these terms. Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy in particular thought of themselves -- and were repeatedly praised in the press -- as the above-the-fray force who mediated between different interest groups in a politics of pluralism.
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Arthur Schelsinger, Daniel Bell and Richard Hofstadter all wrote extensively on this topic. You might see if they have one of their works in an audiobook format, or maybe you can ask one of your smarter colleagues to read it to you.

I think people are going to be confused by Obama's leadership style for some time because it is multi-faceted. I'm a speaker, consultant, and facilitator professionally and a lot of what Obama does resonates with the best practices of effective facilitation. He's facilitating as much as he's mediating.

Facilitators think about "who has to own the decisions under consideration" and then help structure the dialogue to engage the ultimate owners, facilitate the hearing of different perspectives, try to keep the conversation/process focused on the end result, remind people of where we agree when the differences start to be overemphasized, and mediate as needed.

Scherer is acting just like Ana Marie Cox right before Time fired her. Snarky little twit. I bet he's gone in the next round of layoffs.

You can tell Scherer isn't long for Time by the whiny way he complained about how he would never be able to afford to buy a house and so had renter's rage at the mortgage bailout. Those were not the screachings of a man secure about his future as part of the media elite. Compare and contrast Scherer with Matt Yglesias, the 27-year old uber-blogger, late of The Atlantic, who not only published a book before he was 30, but also just bought himself a pricey condo in the hipper part of DC. No wonder Scherer is so cranky.

Thought you all would like to know that Lil Miokey got another shout out from Balloon Juice The self-anointed president over this piece.
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So, here at Time, we have KT whose very personal piece on health care yesterday was widely quoted and approvingly linked as deeply serious journalism on a topic of overwhelming importance.
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And we have MS who is being widely mentioned as a pure and obvious hack. In service to a party that is in decline.
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Which is the better career move in these troubled times?
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For a journalist, I mean.

Scherer, I want to apologize to you. I should not have been so hard on you. But, I want to tell you quite seriously that following in the Drudge/Halperin/Politico footsteps as a career model does not engender a lot of respect from me. Anyway, why would Time need another Halperin when they already have the original, even if he is a cheap Drudge knockoff?

"Greentraveler. Obama is clearly not a self-anointed president. But what is self-anointed is the role of mediator-in-chief, his whole innovative and unexpected approach to this issue:"
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Scherer-- IT'S CALLED LEADERSHIP! I would have thought in your role as follower-and-chief for the GOP you would have come across it by now, but then again the GOP's version of leadership is closer to brainwashing so I can understand why you wouldn't.

Sigh.

The socialist fix IS in.

Didn't you get the memo from Sweden?

BTW, anyone seen 53 this afternoon?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090306/ap_on_re_us/cleveland_five_dead

Ugly news, from our failed criminal justice system.

That's what i mean by self-anointed mediator in chief. He has defined his own role as mediator.
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You write this as though "self-anointed" is a positive thing, but surely you understand the negative connotations of the phrase, right?