It is shocking how arrogant Barack Obama and his leftist allies are. They ignored their constituents who crammed into town hall meetings to express their anger about big government slithering its way its way into health care and other parts of their lives. The administration even went so far as to characterize these protesters as being part of the fringe element of the GOP whose anger was manufactured.
You’d think the Democratic debacle from last night, combined with the Democratic debacles in Virginia and New Jersey, would have caused them to wake up and realize that if they don’t right their ship, their administration will founder. Obama, however, is unconcerned about that. He cares only about his far left agenda, so he intends to continue on his current course to expand the already bloated government:
As the country woke up to a new political landscape the morning after the Massachusetts special election, the White House tried to balance a tone of contrition with a message that the Obama administration believes it still has a mandate.
“There are messages here, we hear those messages but there is a tendency in this town … to over blow things even beyond their importance,” said David Axelrod, a top adviser to President Obama, on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown.”
Axelrod signaled that the White House is not giving up on health-care reform.
“He believes there is a real crisis,” Axelrod said. “He believes we have to deal with that crisis.”
“We also have to take into account what voters were saying yesterday … We will take that into account and then decide how to move forward,” Axelrod said.
“But it’s not an option to walk away from a problem that’s only going to get worse.”
Axelrod and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs appeared together exclusively on the show, choosing the hour-long political specialty program as the venue in which to test their messaging in the wake of Republican Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts.
Axelrod and Gibbs each said several times that they understand that there is real anger in the country, a pivot from this summer, when they dismissed those who angrily protested the health-care bill at town hall forums.
“There’s a tremendous amount of anger,” said Gibbs, who in August called the town hall protests “manufactured anger.”
But Axelrod, known as the White House’s “keeper of the message,” argued that the anger in the country does not mean their agenda has been rejected.
So it’s full steam ahead for big government. These are the actions of an arrogant, dismissive, and elitist leadership who truly believes it knows what is best for the American people in spite of their protests to the contrary. They are also the actions of leadership that has resigned itself to the losses will come as a result. As far as I’m concerned they can continue with their plans to ignore the American people. But soon they will see that few Democrats will come with them on their political suicide mission. Already Jim Webb, Claire McCaskill, Evan Bahy, Peter Anthony Weiner, and even Barney Frank have said it’s time to pull back from the direction president, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid want to take this country.
Update: Well, well, well. If Obama wasn’t going to listen to the Massachusetts voters, it seems he is going to listen to the Democrats who made it clear they will not carry his water for him any longer. The president who said he was going full steam ahead is walking that back a bit:
Obama insisted today that the Senate wait for Brown to be seated before they make any changes to its version of the health care reform legislation.
“Here’s one thing I know and I just want to make sure that this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn’t try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated,” the president said. “People in Massachusetts spoke. He’s got to be part of that process.”
We’re happy to hear that the president got the message. Well, part of the message. Take a look at this spin (emphasis mine):
“Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” the president said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
Riiiight. It’s the last eight years. Not the massive, intrusive health care bill or the back room deals or the arrogance or the 12 trillion dollars in debt over the next ten years that he and the Democrats have run up. No way, it couldn’t possibly be that because that would mean Obama would have to take responsibility. Passing the buck must be a involuntary reflex for this guy.
Added: Hey, Ben Nelson, feeling stupid about now?
