The Grassley is Greener on . . .

Aravosis: Burton: Obama to be even more bipartisan

AP:

Meanwhile, Obama returned from his vacation in Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard and, after a few days at Camp David, will redouble his efforts "toward getting a bipartisan result" on health care overhaul, said deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton. "After he gets a little time to recharge his batteries...he's going to come back as rip-roaring as he was before," Burton said.

Yes, the reason that President Obama is now starting to be perceived as a weak leader by the right, independents, and the left in all the polls is because he simply hasn't caved enough on his core principles. If only he'd given the Republicans 50% of the stimulus package as tax cuts, instead of 40%, maybe then Americans would believe him to be a true leader.

PS As rip-roaring as before? The previous "rip-roaring" lost Obama 20 points in the polls, reinvigorated a nearly-dead GOP, fractured a once unified Democratic party, and lost control of your signature issue. It's not clear that Democrats can afford much more of the White House's definition of successful leadership.

Ezra Klein: Chuck Grassley Fundraises Against Health-Care Reform

Chuck Grassley is facing a potentially difficult primary challenge in 2010. As such, he's been working hard to cover his right flank. That would all be fine except for one thing: As ranking member of the Finance Committee, Grassley is responsible for developing a workable compromise on health-care reform. But as this fundraising letter (pdf) shows, Grassley is running against health-care reform back in Iowa. Here's how the missive begins:

I had to rush you this Air-Gram today to set the record straight on my firm and unwavering opposition to government-run health care.

And ask your immediate support in helping me defeat "Obama-care."

I'm sure you've been following this issue closely. If the legislation sponsored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives and Chairman Ted Kennedy in the Senate is passed it would be a pathway to a government takeover of the health care svstem. lt would turn over control of your health care decisions to a federal bureaucrat ... and take it away from you and your personal physician.

It would mean government rationing in the name of cost controls.

The emphases are in the original document. Grassley does allow that he is working on "a viable alternative that is free-market based and rejects the pitfalls of government-run insurance." But that's the single constructive or compromise-oriented sentence in the letter. The rest of it, as you can read for yourself, previews a campaign strategy entirely based around Grassley's opposition to "Obama-care." As Grassley says, "the simple truth is that I am and always have been opposed to the Obama administration's plan to nationalize health care. Period."

The question of whether Grassley wants to compromise on health care is increasingly being overtaken by the reality that Grassley is not leaving himself political room to compromise on health care. He is creating a campaign premised on his role in stopping Obama's health-care reform effort. It is not clear how he could pivot to save it, even if he wanted to do so. And given the unique role Grassley occupies as the senior partner in Max Baucus's bipartisan process, the bare-knuckled partisanship of Grassley's letter does not suggest that his political team is readying itself to sell a compromise.

Benen: PUTTING PRESSURE ON GRASSLEY...

To hear Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tell it, he has no choice but to move away from health care reform because, he says, that's what Iowans have been telling him to do. "If town meetings are going to mean anything, if democracy is going to mean anything, then you listen to your people and you act accordingly," he said late last week.

This week, if Grassley turns on his television, he'll listen to someone else. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America are launching a new ad this week, encouraging the conservative Iowan senator to not only support reform, but also to back a public option.

The groups couldn't have found a better person for the ad. Instead of an outsider, the pro-reform message comes from Kevin Shilling of Greenfield, Iowa, who explains from the outset that he "voted for Reagan, Nixon, George W. Bush and Senator Chuck Grassley too." He's also a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army who says Iowans of both parties "want the public insurance option."

"I voted for Senator Grassley in the past," Shilling adds. "But when Grassley takes over $2 million from the big health and insurance industries that oppose reform and then says he won't give Iowans the choice of a public option, I have to ask: Senator, whose side are you on?"

The ad is slated to run 200 times in four Iowa markets and 100 times in DC this week, though DFA and the PCCC hope to keep it going longer.

It's bound to get Grassley's attention. Whether it changes his attitude is another matter. The senator made it overwhelmingly clear last week that he's inclined to listen to loud protestors precisely because they're loud protestors. Chances are, Kevin Shilling will be easier for him to overlook.

When Grassley says he feels compelled to "listen to his people," he means people who'll give him an excuse to do what he wants to do anyway.