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Unpacking the Berwick Surprise.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  July 20th, 2010 at 08:30 AM  | 

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[UPDATE]: Ben Domenech over at the New Ledger calls this a “formality.”

Roll Call reports:

President Barack Obama sent the Senate his nomination of Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday — a move that comes two weeks after Obama bypassed Congress to put his stalled nominee in the post until the end of 2011.

Via Senatus: background here; and Allahpundit over at Hot Air reports that he’s “honestly shocked.” It is somewhat shocking; you don’t usually see an administration so openly caving in public.

As I see it, there are several possible reasons for this:

  1. The President is attempting to rally the base. It’s now conventional wisdom at this point – thanks largely to the White House, honestly – that the Democrats are going to get hammered this November. Perhaps the President feels that revisiting the Obamacare debacle would be helpful to him. Pro: The Democratic base wants to fight for Obamacare. Con: The VRWC wants the Democratic base to fight for Obamacare, too.
  2. The President is attempting to make up for two years of “I won.” I actually think that this is the highest-probability scenario: the White House has digested the aforementioned conventional wisdom, concluded that the 112th Congress is going to be full of angry freshman legislators who do not actually believe – or care – that entitlement spending is supposed to be untouchable, and is hastily trying to remove some of the more egregious annoyances before then. Pro: It does remove one of the more egregious annoyances. Con: It’s probably not worth the hit to the President’s perceived effectiveness at this point.
  3. The President panicked and caved under pressure. Low-probability, actually – if this happened in December I’d think differently – but added for completeness’ sake. Pro: None, nada, zippo, nothing. Con: If true, then I suggest that the Democratic party should start looking for a primary challenger; because if true, then this Presidency is going to be at the Right’s bidding for the next two years.
  4. The President decided that the opposition was right about Berwick’s recess appointment being inappropriate. Likewise low-probability. Pro: It would demonstrate a laudable ability in the President to learn from his mistakes. Con: Nobody’s going to believe it, though.

I think that covers it.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

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COMMENTS

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  • Bill S

    have they somehow convinced themselves that re-fighting the ObamaCare battle right now is a good idea?

    And you also mentioned it. I think that’s the answer. The Left is blinded by their ideology and they sincerely believe that a) Obamacare was something that had to be done for the good of the people, and b) everyone will love it once they understand it, just like Berwick and his NHS fetish. They think that bringing Obamacare to the forefront again will bring back the glory days of their one big victory.

    Your option 2 presumes that they would admit they were wrong, and I think that is physiologically impossible for Obama and his regime.

  • paramedichess

    I have to think there is a possibility that Obama decided it was better to fight with a Senate of 59 dems than fight with a Republican Senate in 2 1/2 years. Who knows?

  • mikerazar

    to display to the American people the arrogance and evil of the progressive ideology.

    Death panel, death panel, death panel. Every GOP senator should hammer this quack on why he feels intellectually or morally equipped to decide which Americans get lifesaving treatments and which ones are expendable.

    Pound him on QALYs (quality adjusted life years) and ask him just how he plans to assign more value to one human being over another.

    Hammer him on abortion. Force him to explain why a baby due to be born in a few weeks is less deserving than a politician’s knee replacement.

    No platitudes. Force him to answer one hypothetical question after another until his refusal to do so becomes an embarrassment.

    This Senate hearing is a gift. Will the Republican Senators accept it. I doubt it. More likely, they will play the usual game for a few days by making speeches and lobbing softballs just as they always do.

  • Bobcat51

    Slick Willie was at the WH to advise Obama last week. Did Bill remind Obama that his arrogance is overwhelming the nation?

  • taxpayer1234

    Obama listens to no one. For all we know, Bill might have tried to talk Obama OUT of backpedaling.

  • BA Cyclone

    I think a huge portion is that the President can APPEAR to be a get-it-done executive – rally the statist base and sidestep the “party of no” by getting his guy in the CMS at his leisure. BUT at the same time throwing up the nomination for manufactured debate later and, in the view of D.C. pols, succumbing to the politics of now. Appear as if he isn’t afraid of “debate”.

    We have nothing to hide. Kiss the ring, please.

  • BA Cyclone

    I think a huge portion is that the President can APPEAR to be a get-it-done executive – rally the statist base and sidestep the “party of no” by getting his guy in the CMS at his leisure. BUT at the same time throwing up the nomination for manufactured debate later and, in the view of D.C. pols, succumbing to the politics of now. Appear as if he isn’t afraid of “debate”.

    We have nothing to hide. Kiss the ring, please.

  • The_Gadfly

    I see why you think #2 works. It is something an even minimally competent apparatchik should be able to do. The sticking point for me is that I don’t think The Big 0 is intrinsically capable of digesting conventional wisdom and making it part of his conscious thought process. I will grant it might be subconscious.

    I’m actually more inclined to believe that he continues to ignore the first rule of Scarface (never snort from your own stash) and has been inhaling deeply from the LSM hallucinogens such as “he has had one of the most productive Presidencies since LBJ.” In this scenario his subconscious recognizes point #1, and sends the nomination over believing that he will WIN the confirmation fight and have his minion safely ensconced in his appointed position regardless of the outcome of the election.

  • StandardCandle

    5. Something terrible has come up in quite possibly the FIRST ever internal vetting of an Obama appointee… and it will soon be discovered, evidence that Donald Berwick was in a sleazy hotel room with both a dead hooker, and a live boy… and thus the President is hoping that he WILL NOT be confirmed so as to save face…

  • gbenton

    The Senate Republicans suffer from several weak links – Graham, Snowe, Collins, and Brown, three of whom just handed The One the Financial Deform Bill, and one just voted to confirm Kagan.

    The magnitude of negative impact of both of those cave ins both strategically and for any concept of a traditional, conservative vision for America and the Republic are staggering. And unlike Obamacare, I don’t see a movement to repeal the Finance Deform, nor is there much of a public outcry against Kagan, so these are breathtaking failures on the part of the Senate GOP to maintain unity of opposition. I can see Brown voting for the Jobs Bill and getting a pass cause he’s from MA, but if we can’t count on him to thwart Financial Deform,, what good is he at all?

    So, I kinda think Obama may be counting on the Republican Senate weak links to confirm this nut job and fail to use the opportunity to it’s fullest and further highlight the problems with Obamacare.

    What he may be after is bipartisan cover for this nomination to soften the PR beating he took on Obamacare – and perhaps there is some kind of quid pro quo between him and the turncoats mentioned above.

    I’ll tell you what, I was DEEPLY suspicious of the warm glad handing between Brown and Biden when he got to DC.

    I so hope I am wrong, forgive the gloomy take on Obama’s strategy here, if there is one. Just put this out there to see what folks wiser and more knowledgeable have to say – perhaps we can put pressure on the Senators to really stay unified and shine a bright light on this dirt bag.

    I like StnandardCandle’s #5 option best… that lets the GOP bash this guy AND have him fail and embarrass Obummer at the same time.

    Just a little down from the passage of Finance Deform AND Graham’s betrayal on Kagan today. Love the post… as always,Moe.

  • lukematthews

    It seems the Democratic Party’s propaganda wing actually believes its own hype. They are genuinely confused by the poll numbers. Clinton too was convinced once it passed it would be universally loved. I really think they’d like to rehash the fight to try and turn the debate around. They truly believe it is a good law and good idea. They are completely gobsmacked that people find it repulsive and destructive. If it was Card Check or immigration, I think they’d understand but they are convinced this is free healthcare and the American people just don’t get it yet.