I have wondered where Dan at Huffington was hiding out. Turns out, thinking. This is really good.
One possibility is that Obama, to everyone’s surprise, will come out with a strong bill much like the one he promised his supporters during the campaign. It is conceivable, after all, that the reason Obama hasn’t publicly issued ultimatums and twisted arms and busted heads is that he believes it’s best to do those things in private — and only when the time is truly ripe. In this scenario, which I call the Obama-as-community-organizer scenario, the community’s needs are finally met, but in a way such that even those who had thwarted the people’s will are allowed to save face.
The other possibility — well, I call that one the Obama-as-pushover scenario. In this one, Obama will come out of it having given away the store — having neither significantly improved the health-care system nor lowered its costs, but rather having created a new entitlement that primarily benefits the health insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital industries.