That anyone even cares enough comments on these programs tests one credulity. TLC specializes in all things outre, from outsized people to outsized families. Of all people, Salon subscribers watch this shit??? Amazing!

I'm with you, Arsene. Brevity, brevity, brevity. My reaction to this article was as follows: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Andrew;

In all the cases you cite in questioning whether a pattern is emerging, the same thing is missing: real leadership from Obama.

Someone needs to remind this guy that community organizing is not the same thing as politics. Winston Churchill once said that politics is not an art to be learned in boy scout camp. (for his part, he learned the art in the Boer war). It appears that Obama hasn't learned it at all.

Enough timidity from Obama! This guy needs to bring the hammer down.

This is a joke, right? I'm waiting for the nudge, hudge, wink wink. $80 billion over 10 years is $8 billion per. And Obama's happy? Hell, they threw him a bone. If that makes him happy, he's too damned easy to please. If they can do that just for seniors, right out of the gate, then there's obscene profit in the pharmaceutical industry and Obama is playing for a photo op while being played for a sap.

I actually have more sympathy for this guy than for any of the other hypocrites. I'm a very liberal Democrat, but I think this guy is different than the others in that it is abundantly clear that he was smitten, and ass over applecart in love with his mistress. That's more than I can say for that other Republican, Bill Clinton, who was just out collecting scalps and getting all the poon tang he could manage.

For all you posters calling for Obama to do something, forget it. He isn't going to do anything until you arrive on the front doorstep of the White House, en masse, and if you can't pull yourself away from "Entertainment Tonight," that won't happen. On matters of the economy Obama green and naive. The wrong people have him in a bubble.

He is surrounded by the likes of Robert Rubin, Tim Gaithner and Lawrence Summers, who have his ear. Their goal is to leave the White HOuse through the same revolving door they used on the way in, and return to Wall Street where they will collect their rewards from the grateful few, just as Rubin has already done once, when he returned to Wall Street after service in the Clinton White House. His first return earned him a tidy $160 million and change. That kind of scratch awaits him on his next return. Ditto for Gaithner and Summers. With that kind of reward awaiting them, why should they give a shit about you?

To Reid, the collegiality of the very exclusive old boy's club known as the U.S. Senate, is sacred. Choosing between the will of the voter's or the approval of his pals in the club, you the voter will get screwed every time.

If Reid chose to do so, he could convene the Democratic caucus in the senate and lay down the law. He won't. He forfeited his cojones the day he became majority leader.

".........the Clintons left Congress out of their health-reform plans, while Obama let Congress leave him out of his."

Actually, this quote is true, not false, as you assert. On health care reform, Obama employed the jawbone technique on Congress when instead he should have sent them draft legislation, outlining what he wanted and making it clear to congressional and senate Democratic leaders which parts of the draft legislation were hands off.

He did this knowing that "leaders" like Harry Reid value Senate collegiality over the will of the voters, when, as Joe Conason recently pointed out, bipartisanship is for suckers. They (and the lobbyists) drafted their own legislation and now he's reaping the results of his folly.

He will lose. When he does, he will also lose political capital and become a paper tiger. The GOP will have won by his failure.

Bignose has it right. She won't go away. You can expect to see lots more of her now that she's no longer obligated to tend to a governor's obligations and is free to travel the lower 48.

COMING SOON, TO A FUNDRAISING DINNER NEAR YOU: SARAH PALIN!!

Bet on it. Doubt my prediction? Willie Brown, perhaps one of the most astute politicians of our time, thinks so too. Cut and paste the link below into your browser and read what he has to say on the subject.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/BA9A18MCT5.DTL

Parhaps. But the problem is, its the 10th round and he's lost the first nine, some of them without throwing a punch. Its a little late to try to rally. His only way of winning is by knockout, and he doesn't have the punch. He's a lightweight fighting in a heavyweight bout.

Its better to veto a lousy bill. As it stands now, Obama has never had control of the debate. He never offered draft legislation. He never conferred with House & Senate leaders on a strategy. He has never made clear where his line in the sand is. Thus, a weak bill, or outright defeat of reform legislation will erode his political capital and diminish his chances of enacting the rest of his domestic agenda. He should let them send him a weak compromise so that he can veto it.

A veto of a weak bill will give him the chance to regain control and regroup, while the GOP proves once again that they are the party of NO. This fight is winnable, but only with a White House strategy.

Run Ralph, run!