Obama should've turned Reid lose to play hard ball with Lieberman, not forbidden him to strip the Republican in Democrats clothing of his committee chair. He completely tied Reids hands by telling him to give Lieberman whatever it took to get his vote on the healthcare bill; every time Reid gave in to "the last" demand a new one was made until the bill was completely gutted. No committee did that, Lieberman and Obama did, the former because he either decided to completely betray Dems on social as well as international policy or because his buddies in Hartford called in markers, and the latter because he was more interested in passing a bill--ANY bill--so he could claim victory than he was in providing real healthcare reform.

Yes, if Obama had simply used the overwhelming majority that elected him and the 70% approval ratings he enjoyed his first months of office instead of trying to suck up to people who never voted for him and never will we wouldn't be in this mess (also if he'd gone right after healthcare instead of wasting time with a Wall Street and real estate bailout that squandered much of his popular despite Republicans being too frightened of 70% approval to take it on). He could've also taken the time during his many public appearancs on behalf of the bill to cite specific policy goals he wanted, instead of just vaguely assuring the public that he was deeply committed to some form of one of the four healthcare bills in Congress at the time, but then he'd have had to go on the record and take a stand instead of making general optimistic promises. That he chose a failed strategy is not the GOPs fault by any means though, it's his. Even then we could've gotten a decent bill if he'd thrown out that travesty and forced a public debate over what the new law should and shouldn't have; that would've quickly exposed the GOP commitment to no more "reform" than attacking patients liability rights and protecting big insurance companies, but he was more interested in claiming victory than expanding healthcare, so that's what he did. Again, the buck stops at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and, as I often said of Bush, if he didn't want the job he shouldn't have applied. Bottom line is it's not the other sides fault if the White House can't pass centerpiece legislation with whopping majorities in both houses of Congress.