THE BRILLIANT LEADER, SECOND TO NONE IN WISDOM – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  Once again we turn to the British to inform us that the emperor has no clothes.  From Toby Harnden in London's Telegraph, describing an interview with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband:

Miliband stated: “Even for governments as brilliant as the Obama administration, 2009 was a difficult year.”

Say what?

What planet is he on? Not even the most starry-eyed, Kool-Aid-drinking Obamaphile would describe the current administration as “brilliant."  White House advisers privately concede that they have suffered a series of self-inflicted wounds and need to do a lot of things differently.

I love it when the Brits state the obvious, and state it so well.

And let us add a comment by our own Michael Barone, in today's Washington Examiner, over the most brilliant president in all of human history's handling of health-care legislation:

In fall 2009 Democrats could have pivoted on health care to craft a popular bill or a watered-down unpopular bill to be passed by a bipartisan safe-seat coalition. Instead they plunged ahead and rammed through unpopular bills on party-line votes.

Pelosi got a 220-215 margin in the House in November after accepting an amendment by Bart Stupak that banned funding of abortions.

In the Senate in December, Majority Leader Harry Reid predictably had to pay a high price -- the Cornhusker kickback and the Louisiana purchase -- for the 59th and 60th votes. That's always the case when you need 60 out of 60.

Scott Brown's election in January in Massachusetts deprived Reid of his 60th vote. The only way forward for the Democrats is for the House to pass the Senate bill and then trust the Senate to fix it through the reconciliation process. Pelosi has had six weeks to get the votes for that and hasn't done so yet.

It's beginning to look like the goal of health care legislation was a bridge too far. There's a reason it's hard to pass unpopular legislation on party-line votes. It's not the Senate rules. It's called democracy.

COMMENT:  Dems can blame their Congressional leadership from now until Sunday, but it's the man at the top who guided, or failed to guide, the process.  Obama came to office with vastly more public support than the new Congress, and look what he did with it.

Political reporters are now saying that the House vote on health-care "reform" may well be pushed past the Easter recess, when members go home and face their constituents.  The prevailing belief is that it will be even harder to pass the legislation if that delay comes to pass.

Brilliant president?  Carter-like brilliance.

March 10, 2010