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Latest and greatest news is just how much the public has soured on ObamaCare, even MSNBC polls are showing anemic support.  Ann Althouse addresses part of the problem with :

People just don\’t want this bill. I think the big mistake was skipping the step of winning public support for a particular plan. It wasn\’t enough that people believed there was a problem. People needed to believe the solution wasn\’t worse than the problem. We were supposed to look away and trust them. The trust was never won, never earned. It\’s been a horrific mess, and it just looks messier and messier as time wears on. Obama kept his distance, which looks pretty smart now. Easy to see why the congressional Democrats are pissed at him now. Good! I like divided government.

I\’ll agree as far as they didn\’t win public support first.  I think successful legislating bears a striking resemblance to a quote by Sun Tzu

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

You have to lay the groundwork for a successful campaign first.  And that is where I disagree with Ann Althouse, when she states that Obama is looking pretty smart now for keeping his distance.

First of all, keeping his distance has not helped Obama here.  His popularity has tanked right alongside these healthcare bills.  To be fair, ObamaCare\’s popularity was definitely a leading indicator but Obama\’s poll numbers followed right where ObamaCare\’s has gone…which I would describe but I\’m trying to keep this family friendly.  The point being he has not go unscathed by this political landmine.  In fact he\’s been shown to be oddly mortal for a deity.

Secondly I think Obama made a major mistake by letting Pelosi and Reid take the lead on this one.   At the start of this debate his charisma, while having lost some of it\’s shine, was still intimidating and his popularity with the public was still high.  The Mythbusters proved that you can shine shit, and even though it\’s still shit, his oratory skills (when on teleprompter) might very well have given ObamaCare a good chance of passing before the holidays.  At the very least, public opinion might not have tanked as bad as it did, which was one of the major reasons Obama\’s numbers themselves have tanked.

By showing a willingness to get in there and mix it up, the whole debate might have taken on a cooperative feeling to it.  Instead by letting very uncharismatic, and already unpopular, Democratic leaders take the forefront, this bill was forced to be ramrodded via all sorts of backdoor and horribly partisan measures.

To be fair to Obama, this legislature was craptastic from the beginning and do not possess much in the way of attractive features.  However, he might have been able to save it if he had done more than vote \”present\” on the topic of leadership.

But what do you expect? Obama only had 143 days of experience when he ran for President, you can hardly expect any competence at this stage.  I\’m sure by his third year he\’ll start figuring things out….of course the country will be broke by that point….pity.  Who would have thought on-the-job training wouldn\’t work?

[Crossposted at True North]