Elder statesman Bob Dole has taken it upon himself to offer President Obama some tips for health care reform: start afresh with a new bill from the White House rather than Democrats on the Hill:
“Obama’s approval numbers would jump 10 points if Americans knew he was fully in charge. A tactical move of introducing his own plan would also stir more Republicans to become active for reform in critical areas. Right now the president’s biggest problem is with congressional Democrats, who are split and searching for a way out of the medical wilderness.”
There’s a problem to this rosy scenario: an administration bill would most likely include all the things that caused the public to rebel in the first place. But Dole is right that for the time being Obama’s biggest challenge isn’t Republicans.