Obama's Miscalculation

President Obama pushed the health care reform debate because he miscalculated the importance of his popularity and misinterpreted his own political capital.

He was elected with good numbers and had a high approval rating right out of the gate. And he believed he was elected to do all of the crazy liberal things he wants to do. In truth, he was elected because he was supposed to be post-partisan and a new kind of politician. But he obviously was not who he said he was. He has constantly picked on Republicans, conservatives, Fox News, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. But I digress.

Obama was NOT elected to govern as a tax and spend liberal or to greatly increase the size of the federal government as well as the deficit and the debt.

But Obama (or should I say Rahm Emmanuel, the one really running the country?) completely miscalculated.

He pushed through a "stimulus" bill that no one read, claiming that it would create 4 million jobs. Of course that hasn't happened.

He then moved on to tax and cap (getting it through the House) and health care. And of course, we all know how the health care debate has gone.

Obama has used all of his political capital on this one issue. And it was totally unnecessary.

Obama could have waited. The economy is going to recover eventually. Not because of the stimulus bill ($700 billion of which has not been spent), but just by not doing anything. But when that day comes, he could have taken credit (whether deserved or not) and made America confident in his ability to run the country. At that point, he could have attempted to gain passage of his signature item at a point when America trusts him.

But at this point, the stimulus has failed to work so people are already hesitant. And then he tried to push through the health care within a ridiculous time schedule - the failure of which has made him look bad. And now that people are starting to find out what is in it, they are really speaking out against it.

Obama brought all of his troubles on himself. He misunderstood what he was really elected to do and he also has a tremendous ego. He thought he could do what he wanted with impunity. Now he knows otherwise. The question is what he does with this lesson if and when he learns it. I think he has too much ego to change he tack, but maybe he is a smart enough politician to shift with the winds and try to actually give the American people what they want.