7/23: Mixed Reviews

Liberal bloggers were divided in their reactions to Pres. Obama's presser on health care reform. On the one hand, many lefty bloggers were impressed by what they perceived to be Obama's "command of the substance of this debate." digby wrote, "[I]f actual Americans were listening they likely learned something tonight." On the other hand, some liberal bloggers complained that Obama "didn't explain things in terms that ordinary viewers were likely to understand." Dana Goldstein thought that Obama "seemed, more than ever before, on defense." Not surprisingly, conservative bloggers slammed Obama's performance, calling it "particularly awful" and suggesting that "he may have actually emboldened Republicans who no longer believe him to be the inevitable victor."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (JammieWearingFool, Malkin, Erickson, Allahpundit) are buzzing about Sen. Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) claim that Obama told House Dems who were opposed to the House health care bill, "You're going to destroy my presidency."
• Liberal bloggers (Aravosis, Benen, digby, Kurtz) are criticizing Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) after she appared to back away from supporting a public health insurance option.
• Liberal bloggers (Kurtz, Orton, Aravosis, Wheeler, Greenwald) blasted the Obama admin. for initially refusing to release a list of health industry execs who visited the WH to discuss health care reform (although the Obam admin. eventually backed down and released the list).
• Several conservative bloggers (Malkin, Hillyer) are criticizing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) following his announcement that he'll vote to confirm SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor. That said, one conservative blogger thinks Graham "played this one exactly right."

OBAMA PRESSER: He Sure Knows His Stuff

Some liberal bloggers thought that Obama did a great job of answering questions at last night's presser:

• Balloon Juice's DougJ: "Obama is very good. And, shockingly, the questions are good too."
• TalkLeft's Big Tent Democrat: "President Obama, politically speaking, has knocked it out of the park. Bully pulpit indeed. A bravura performance by a tremendous politician."
• The New York Times' Paul Krugman: "I found Obama's health care presentation so impressive -- so much command of the issues -- that it had me worried. If I really like a politician's speech, isn't that an indication that he lacks the popular touch? [...] Seriously, it's really good to see how much he gets it."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "I'm in the impressed camp. Obama's command of the substance of this debate was obvious, and he hit every point I wanted to see him make. [...] The president succeeded in acknowledging public anxiety, correcting misperceptions, and presenting the need for reform in personal ways. He made a plausible, if deliberately incomplete, case for hurrying the process along. Obama has a habit of taking on detractors' criticism directly, without sounding defensive, and turning the attacks around to his advantage. We saw that play out many times last night."
• digby: "[I]f actual Americans were listening they likely learned something tonight. Just as they did with [Bill] Clinton, they like information and explanations that don't insult the intelligence and prefer it when the president speaks to them as if they aren't in some sort of remedial classroom."

OBAMA PRESSER II: Not His Best Work

Other liberal bloggers were critical of Obama's performance:

• Mother Jones' Kevin Drum: "[T]his really struck me as nowhere near his usual performance. Obama avoided giving direct answers, rambled a lot, kept interrupting himself with asides, and didn't explain things in terms that ordinary viewers were likely to understand. He's supposed to be the communicator-in-chief, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people came away more confused than they were when they tuned in."
• Obsidian Wings' publius: "Tonight's strategy seemed right, but the execution could have been better. My hope tonight was that Obama would focus more on the human side. The debate has been getting bogged down lately in costs, and CBO reports, and new commissions, etc. All that stuff is extremely important -- but it's also very hard for the public to follow these types of policy minutiae. And so I liked Obama's initial focus on 'what's in it for you.' That side of the debate should be more loudly emphasized because, at the end of the day, it's the most important. But Obama just didn't pull it off very well, either in the initial delivery or in the questions."
• TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt: "I was not happy with Obama's answers to the questions. At least two reporters (Chip Reid and someone else) asked questions I very much wanted to hear him answer, and he rambled and deflected. Why couldn't he be as sure-footed and direct about health care as he was Professor Gates? I now have some skepticism about his health care plan I didn't have before."
• TAPPED's Goldstein: "In his health care press conference tonight, despite sounding a few optimistic notes -- 'what's remarkable at this point is not how far we have to go, but how far we've come' -- the president seemed, more than ever before, on defense."

OBAMA PRESSER III: "Particularly Awful"

Not surprisingly, conservative bloggers are blasting Obama's performance:

• NRO's Jim Geraghty: "I thought this was a particularly awful appearance."
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "Obama not only failed to have a message, he also failed to answer most of the questions. He talked endlessly after being asked them, a strategy obviously designed to cut down on questions through filibustering, but he didn't answer the questions."
• Townhall's Matt Lewis: "I don't think his talk last night changed one vote. In fact, I think he may have actually emboldened Republicans who no longer believe him to be the inevitable victor whom they cannot fathom defeating. [...W]hat is there to say about a new president who can't rely on the bully pulpit this early in his administration? In a similar situation, Ronald Reagan would have delivered last night. Bill Clinton would have, too. But President Obama seemed to be hedging his bets last night, afraid -- or unable -- to pull out all the stops.
• AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein: "President Obama had a chance tonight to reset the debate. Instead, he rambled on, rehashing a series of wonky talking points, and he wasted so much time dodging questions that he only had time for 10 of them in a press conference that spanned nearly one hour."

Conservative bloggers were particularly critical of Obama's hypothetical scenario about a doctor who removes a child's tonsils unnecessarily in order to maximize insurance reimbursement:

• Klein: "At one point, Obama made the insulting suggestion that when children go to doctors with sore throats, doctors consult payment charts, and unneccesarily remove kids' tonsils just to earn extra money. Aside from being a cynical remark, it isn't smart politically, as polling shows that Americans trust doctors far more than politicians when it comes to health care."
• Morrissey: "The incentives are set up against tonsillectomies, not favoring them, mainly because a few experts decided a few decades ago that they were generally unnecessary. In ObamaCare, those experts will be in charge of all doctors."
• Michelle Malkin: "Uhhhhhh, demonizing doctors doesn't exactly seem the best way to shore up support for the ailing, failing government health care takeover. But the fear-mongerer-in-chief can't seem to help himself."

Conservative bloggers (Levin, McCarthy) also criticized Obama's response to a question about the recent arrest of Harvard prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr., although liberal bloggers (digby, Marshall, Yglesias) defended Obama's answer.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Why We Should Eliminate The Filibuster

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein:

"When you talk about potentially eliminating the filibuster, liberals have a tendency to quickly bring up the specter of Social Security privatization. That is to say, they have a tendency to quickly bring up an instance in which the filibuster worked, or appeared to work, for them. But this is a really bad argument. Privatization was not a popular policy that was effectively killed when Republicans couldn't get a couple of Democrats to vote for cloture. It never came up for a vote at all. It never even got out of a committee. It was very unpopular, and wouldn't have gotten 50 votes. It died because the majority opposed it. That's democracy.

Imagine, however, a filibuster-less world. In this world, Republicans managed to persuade every member of their party to vote for an unpopular bill. Well, what happens? Presumably, Democrats run against them in the next election and, as happened in real life, take back Congress. And then they repeal the bill. Or President Obama does it two years later, when he enters office atop a promise to overturn President [George W.] Bush's veto of the very popular Social Security Privatization Repeal Act of 2007. That too is democracy. [...]

The problem with the filibuster isn't so much that it enables bad outcomes so much as it makes a mockery of the democratic process. The question of the filibuster is not a partisan question and it's not a question of outcomes. The claim for the filibuster is a claim for the preservation of the status quo -- whether that status quo is liberal or conservative -- against the preferences of the majority. Eliminating the filibuster is not a Democratic or a Republican goal. It's a majoritarian goal."

LEST WE FORGET: Obama Proposes Replacing Anesthesia With Press Conferences

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"President Barack Obama made a bold new health care proposal last night, saying that the nation could save billions annually by replacing anesthesia with press conferences.

'Instead of administering costly anesthetics, a doctor could simply pipe in a few minutes of me talking about electronic medical records,' Mr. Obama said. 'I guarantee you, that patient will be out cold.' [...]

Mr. Obama's press conference appears to have been a big success, with a new poll showing that 57% of Americans favor the President's health care plan 'if he will promise to stop talking about it.'"