It's amusing to read and hear the yammering by politicians and editorial columnists that President Obama wasted the summer on health care, that he should have been out there leading the charge, etc., etc.
It occurred to me some time ago that the president might have known exactly what he was doing on that score — patiently biding his time and conserving his political ammo, while letting the crazies on both sides dominate the headlines but eventually wear out their welcome with the broader public.
One of the yammerers, Frank Rich, appears to get this, but he seems to think it's a bad thing:
... it’s a little disingenuous for Obama to claim that he is not distracted by the 24-hour news cycle. What he’s actually doing is gaming it for all it’s worth.
As a mode of campaigning, this tactic was worth a great deal. Obama ... executed a remarkably disciplined tortoise-vs.-hare battle plan that outwitted and ultimately vanquished the hypercaffeinated political strategies of Hillary Clinton and John McCain
As a style of governing, however, this repeated cycle of extended above-the-fray passivity followed by last-minute oratorical heroics has now been stretched to the very limit.
If this indeed has been what the president has been doing, and if such tactics help him push through a useful health-care bill — which remains to be seen — then Frank Rich and his fellow philosopher-king wannabes will call him a masterful political craftsman who knows how to get things done in today's hyperpartisan environment.
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