HE DID IT HIS WAY, UNFORTUNATELY – AT 4:14 P.M. ET:  Apparently, the president of the United States, the "yes we can" guy from Chicago, is throwing health care under the bus, keeping some space open for Eric Holder.  From AP:

WASHINGTON – No, maybe he can't. President Barack Obama, who insisted he would succeed where other presidents had failed to fix the nation's health care system, now concedes the effort may die in Congress.

The president's newly conflicting signals could frustrate Democratic lawmakers who are hungry for guidance from the White House as they try to salvage the effort to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and hold down spiraling medical costs. Obama's comments Thursday night came hours after Republican Scott Brown was sworn in to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy, leaving Democrats without their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and Obama's signature health legislation with no clear path forward.

"I think it's very important for us to have a methodical, open process over the next several weeks, and then let's go ahead and make a decision," Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

Why hasn't there been a methodical, open process for the last year?

"And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns."

It was a shift in tone for the issue the "Yes we can" candidate campaigned on and made the centerpiece of his domestic agenda last year.

COMMENT:  More than a shift in tone.  It's practically a surrender.  What this administration never learned is that the voice of the president, no matter how smooth, is not enough.  FDR was defeated on legislation, and he was an even better communicator than The One.  Moving a bill through Congress is a fine political art.  This crowd never mastered it.

It might have been wiser to pick a few reforms that have wide popular appeal, end the outrageous anti-trust exemption for the insurance industry, and proceed from there.  The American people wanted the car repaired.  They didn't volunteer to buy a new limo.

February 5, 2010