But didn't he also do that with the $800B stimulus bill? That was essentially delegated to Pelosi. I remember reading a ton of articles on the left about that. And I remember the bill Pelosi ended up producing made some folks in the Administration unhappy.
Obama was actively involved in the stimulus bill at the onset, but yes you could say he punted towards the end; I think that'd be accurate, and I don't contest that description of events. I would only put to you his reasoning:
Between Obama, Pelosi, and Reid; Pelosi would be the point-person on any such legislation. She could get her version of the bill, her proposal, through the House -- and they needed the stimulus passed in the first quarter of the year due to the massive increases in job losses that were being reported on a daily basis. Obama and his advisers realized that trying to debate with Pelosi on such a bill was less important than getting the overall stimulus bill passed; so, the Administration felt it would be best to allow Pelosi to take the lead on the bill.
And I think it's important to understand this decision in context.
From the very moment Barack Obama was sworn in, he was at odds with Pelosi on almost every major policy proposal the White House put forward. And she was very vocal about her opposition to his vision. Pelosi felt that, with a liberal near super-majority, now was the time to ram through left-wing policies and the time for working with Republicans had passed. Pelosi went so far as to suggest Obama prosecute Bush Administration officials for war crimes, and was
openly offended when they scoffed at the idea.
Over the first 100 days of the Presidency, Pelosi was a tenuous ally to the President at best, and oftentimes she was an outright adversary. She felt it was important to keep the President beholded to the liberals of the Party who got him through the primary against Hillary Clinton.
So Obama, less than 4 weeks on the job, decided it would be best to accede to Pelosi on the stimulus bill, while also allowing the ACA to be largely crafted by Pelosi and Reid -- to people whom disagreed strongly on the nature of such a bill, openly argued that the President should take the point, and with respect to Reid, could not whip the necessary votes to pass a truly liberal piece of legislation.
So with that said, I think with respect to the ACA, Obama failed -- miserably. Many in the former Administration admit the failures of this time. With the stimulus, I think it was a tactical move to bring Pelosi back into the fold, because she is much more valuable as an ally than an outspoken adversary dividing the Party.
In hindsight, it would have been better if Obama had acceded more control to Pelosi because the Party would have had greater ideological direction and cover. We lacked strong leadership in those early days because Obama felt that reason and rationality could and ultimately would win the day. He felt that his character and his openness to compromise with Republicans would somehow heal party divisions - not realizing what was happening around him.
It's a shame really...
