How to Set a Trap

"President Obama has made a politically savvy move and successfully put Republicans in a double bind"

Today President Obama will hold his televised health care summit with Congressional leaders, discussing ideas from both Democrats and Republicans about formulating a solution to America’s significant health care problems. If you’re thinking “Republicans talking about ideas? That doesn’t sound right . . .” you may be coming to the same conclusion that many pundits have made about the health care summit in recent weeks: It’s A Trap!

The reasoning behind this Admiral Ackbar mentality is that after a year of floundering and failures, . Politically, the Republicans best option is continuing to be the Party of No. Compromising on health care offers them nothing; Democrats will take credit for health care reform regardless of whether Republicans worked with them or not. The GOP’s best bet is to obstruct, then condemning the Democrats as dictatorial if the pass legislation or incompetent if they don’t. The risk of a Tea Party rebellion makes the Republicans even more likely to stick to their Prevent Defense and continue to block the Democrats as much as possible.

The problem is that this strategy does not look good on television, and that’s exactly where President Obama wants to put it. Billing the health care summit as an event to engage in dialogue and exchange ideas, Obama has called the Republican’s bluff that his plans for health care reform are not good for the country, challenging them to prove the point by suggesting something better. What will the GOP do? As our great political mentor Jed Bartlett has shown, ignoring the President when he asks for a public discussion never goes well. Republicans will have to attend the summit. But what will they do? Likely push the talking point that most Americans disapprove of Obama’s plan, suggest starting the process over, and throw in something about tort reform. Their goal will be to say as little as possible, take whatever hits they get about not having their own ideas, and move on.

So what should the Democrats do? Not let them move on. After the summit President Obama needs to go against his instinct to talk about how much he loves bipartisanship and meaningful discourse and instead vocally criticize Republicans for not bringing anything to the table. He should label them as Do-Nothing-Obstructionists. And he should make sure this label sticks. The Democrats need a new angle to get their agenda back on track and limit their losses in the upcoming election. Rather than a referendum on the state of the country (still pretty bad), the Democrats need to make the public debate and upcoming election a question of who puts forward the best ideas, because in that type of debate the Republican mantra of “Don’t Do Anything!” isn’t going to cut it. The health care summit has the potential to be a turning point that shifts the public debate. The trap is set. Now the Democrats have to spring it.

Today President Obama will hold his televised health care summit with Congressional leaders, discussing ideas from both Democrats and Republicans about formulating a solution to America’s significant health care problems. If you’re thinking “Republicans talking about ideas? That doesn’t sound right . . .” you may be coming to the same conclusion that many pundits have made about the health care summit in recent weeks: It’s A Trap!

The reasoning behind this Admiral Ackbar mentality is that after a year of floundering and failures, President Obama has made a politically savvy move and successfully put Republicans in a double bind. Politically, the Republicans best option is continuing to be the Party of No. Compromising on health care offers them nothing; Democrats will take credit for health care reform regardless of whether Republicans worked with them or not. The GOP’s best bet is to obstruct, then condemning the Democrats as dictatorial if the pass legislation or incompetent if they don’t. The risk of a Tea Party Rebellion makes the Republicans even more likely to stick to their Prevent Defense and continue to block the Democrats as much as possible.

The problem is that this strategy does not look good on television, and that’s exactly where President Obama wants to put it. Billing the health care summit as an event to engage in dialogue and exchange ideas, Obama has called the Republican’s bluff that his plans for health care reform are not good for the country, challenging them to prove the point by suggesting something better. What will the GOP do? As our great political mentor Jed Bartlett has shown, ignoring the President when he asks for a public discussion never goes well. Republicans will have to attend the summit. But what will they do? Likely push the talking point that most Americans disapprove of Obama’s plan, suggest starting the process over, and throw in something about tort reform. Their goal will be to say as little as possible, take whatever hits they get about not having their own ideas, and move on.

So what should the Democrats do? Not let them move on. After the summit President Obama needs to go against his instinct to talk about how much he loves bipartisanship and meaningful discourse and instead vocally criticize Republicans for not bringing anything to the table. He should label them as Do-Nothing-Obstructionists. And he should make sure this label sticks. The Democrats need a new angle to get their agenda back on track and limit their losses in the upcoming election. Rather than a referendum on the state of the country (still pretty bad), the Democrats need to make the public debate and upcoming election a question of who puts forward the best ideas, because in that type of debate the Republican mantra of “Don’t Do Anything!” isn’t going to cut it. The health care summit has the potential to be a turning point that shifts the public debate. The trap is set. Now the Democrats have to spring it.

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