This week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers asked “Grade President Obama’s handling of health care reform.” The Left gave him a C, while the Right awarded an F.
Taking the view that you usually can’t get a good grade without doing the reading, I voted “F”, and wrote: “Perhaps he should learn what’s in the House bill before unleashing his political machine to demand that people support it. The bill would break many of his campaign promises, including the promise to protect people who want to keep their current insurance.”
The second question asked: “Grade congressional Republicans’ effectiveness so far this year as the “loyal opposition.” The Left gave a grade of “D”, while the Right supplied a “C-.” This is close enough to make “D+” into a trans-ideological consensus.
I was outside the consensus, however, and gave the Republicans a B: “They have done a reasonably good job at staying united. Their best move was making Obama and the Dems own the ‘stimulus,’ so the fact that the economy is not responding as ‘stimulus’ backers promised ends up hurting the bill’s Democratic advocates. More generally, though, the Republicans are benefiting from over-reaching by Pelosi et al, particularly on the climate tax bill.”