Always admired Jim Webb, and he has the guts to say it like it is. Any other democrat senators out there doing this? I don't care if they are leaving after the term is over or not, he is speaking out. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ure-for-obama/2012/04/18/gIQAIbKpQT_blog.html Jim Webb: Health-care law represents a leadership failure for Obama By Karen Tumulty President Obamas new health-care law will be his greatest liability as he attempts to once again win the critical swing state of Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) warned Wednesday. Ill be real frank here, Webb said at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News. I think that the manner in which the health-care reform issue was put in front of the Congress, the way that the issue was dealt with by the White House, cost Obama a lot of credibility as a leader. U.S. Democratic Sen. Jim Webb gestures while talking to journalists during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Yangon, Myanmar. (Khin Maung Win - AP) Webb voted for the law, but also for more than a dozen GOP-offered amendments to it. If you were going to do something of this magnitude, you have to do it with some clarity, with a clear set of objectives from the White House, added Webb, who opted not to run for a second term this year. ...It should have been done with better direction from the White House. He faulted Obama for playing too passive a role in shaping the legislation. Taking a lesson from Bill Clintons failed 1994 health-care overhaul effort--which was faulted for its micromanagement of the details of the bill--Obama opted to spell out a broad set of goals, and let Congress work out the details. What happened in the end, Webb said, was five different congressional committees voted out their version of health-care reform, and so you had 7,000 pages of contradictory information. Everybody got confused. ... From that point forward, Obamas had a difficult time selling himself as a decisive leader. Webb also said that if Obama had opted for a smaller measure, he would have stood a chance of winning the support of a significant number of Republicans on Capitol Hill. The White House had no immediate comment on Webbs statement. Webb added that he believes most Virginia voters--outside the staunchest partisans--have not yet begun to focus on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee. People are getting ready to pay attention to his message, the average person, rather than the nominating base, Webb said. Romney has a case to make. He has to make his case.
I wish he would challenge Obama and run. It's hard to believe not one democrat will go against the flow and do it.
Obama showed his inexperience by trying to do something too big and too quickly. He also looks bad for not involving the republicans at all in the debate and then he got caught offering back-room deals to Congressmen in order to get it passed. This went against his pledge to be transparent and people have not forgotten. He also is faulted for not paying attention to the more important issue of jobs when he was so focused on healthcare. We've already thrown out many of the Congressmen that were part of this and Obama should be very worried that when his time comes he will be the next to hit the road.
