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Two articles by Andrew Sullivan:
Obama did yesterday what he will do this fall if the Democrats have the common sense to pass the health insurance reform bill. Start watching the video above at 9.30. I love his jab at Washington pundit bull@!$%#. As I wrote in my column last Sunday,
The polling shows the bill isn’t as unpopular as the Republicans insist it is. In the latest poll of polls, about 48% oppose it and about 43% support it. That has been stable since November, as Nate Silver, the blogger, has noted. A Wall Street Journal poll found support at a mere 36%. But when the same sample was told what was in the bill — everyone gets insurance; it does not end when you lose your job; no one gets denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition — the support went up 20 points. Its component parts are far more popular than the total concept — and more easily explained to the public. Just because Obama hasn’t done this so far doesn’t mean he won’t.
And now he has. This is the kind of argument that, in a recovering economy, could shift the dynamic back to the president's party.
As this poll of polls shows, if Obama keeps up his performances like yesterday and campaigns like this day after day after day, the first poll - from YouGov/The Economist - showing a clear 53- 47 majority in favor of his reform will become a harbinger of the future. The data is already there that passing this will help the Democrats against the Republicans this fall, if you can get past the Washington bull@!$%#. The last month has been clearly a net positive in public opinion.
Moreover, Obama's strategy of exposing the nihilism and obstructionism of the GOP is working.
