Forever etched in the zeitgeist of American political folklore, Vice President Biden’s muffled, “This is a big F’ ing Deal!” will probably be what Americans remember most about that health care thing that happened back in 2010.
But, if you can’t remember the plays that got us there, here’s a brief recap, that includes the players that helped steer this, “too big to fail” piece of legislation to victory.
February 2010
All dinged up and sensing a blitz from Boehner on the right, the Obama Administration, lagging out of the huddle on second and long in its final drive to push health care reform over the goal line, downed the ball early in the fourth quarter, and retreated safely to the side-lines to regroup.
Fearing a Stupak safety, Obama, the play caller, in search of a new charm offensive, made several modifications to his game plan; including his roster.
Carrying water for the O team in a bucket drilled with holes, Obama’s Budget Director, Peter Orzag suffered the first casualty.
Told to grab some wood as punishment for his behind the scenes antics, Orzag’s D.C. panty raids certainly were putting the “OMG back into the OMB.” (as if it ever had it)
In his place, and himself rebounding from a sprained tongue, an injury he endured early on in the campaign, Austan Goolsbee shuffled out onto the field, all wide-eyed and dewy in his shiny new uniform asking,
“Where do you need me chief?”
“On the Sunday shows kid, I need you on all of the Sunday shows,” said the president, patting Goolsbee on his backside.
With a head for numbers as big as Mark Kelso’s helmet, Goolsbee nodded, and with little notice from the press, was christened the administration’s new pet geek.
Once shepharding Orzag to the front of the pack, sizzling profiles like this one in the NYT’s, trumpeted him as the modern prototypical Washington power player on the rise-the new, Swing King of the Nerd Herd.
Between gulps of Red Bull and Diet Coke, the bespectacled Orzag could be found most mornings, on the North lawn of the White House, boiling down mind-numbing spreadsheets into bite-sized phrases like, “deficit neutral,” for a bevy of morning talk shows and their audiences. Then, in January, just two months prior to Mr. Obama’s passage of his historical health care reform package, Orzag, zigged.
Scooped by The New York Post, Orzag was forced to publicly confirm rumors in January 2010, that his estranged girlfriend, Claire Milonas, had given birth to a baby in November 2009, and that he was the father. To make matters more confusing, Orzag, a divorcee with two children of his own, issued a statement, jointly with his ex-girlfriend, while courting his new one; ABC’s, Bianna Golodryga-whom he met at President Obama’s first White House Press Correspondents’ Dinner.
“We were in a committed relationship until the spring of 2009. In November, Claire gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.
Although we are no longer together, we are both thrilled she is happy and healthy, and we would hope that everyone will respect her privacy.”
Plagued by a series of mini-scandals since transition, the administration fielded its hurry up and wait offense, and executed its next batch of plays with Goolsbee, not Orzag as its mouthpiece.
Anecdotally, I knew this was true-I hadn’t seen old Orzag on the air peddling obfuscated CBO estimates as half-truths since February, and with all of the shouting, cursing and spitting epitomizing the national debate on health care reform, March was madness for the administration, and for the country-but no one in the press bothered writing about the O team’s fourth quarter switch. But it happened.
Tracking Orzag’s dip in coverage, it’s apparent the administration gave him the hook in February.
Here, RCP compiles a list of press events with Orzag-nothing in the crucial month of March.
The same for the NYT’s.
And, aside from posting a recent Tweet from Orazag’s current…uh..fiancee, even his fan site, Orzagasm.com halted its coverage in February.
Filling in, Goolsbee, a youthful and articulate former economics professor from the University of…..yep, you guessed it, Chicago, seemed a natural successor; a perfect fit as the O team’s new face behind the numbers.
Not convinced?
Here’s Goolsbee on The Daily Show, dated February 2010.
After January 2010, Orzag was merely a rim shot for Jon Stewart.
But, it’s not as if there’s been a total media blackout on Orzag. Recently, Congressional Republicans gifted the conservative blogosphere with clips of his testimony before President Obama’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, with him saying,
“Under current policies, our projected deficits amount to about 5 percent of GDP in the second half of this decade, much higher than would be prudent or sustainable.”
Goolsbee added to the April media fracas, creating his own flap on Morning Joe over his refusal to rule out a Value Added Tax (a national sales tax).
And yet, ”America’s Affordable Health Choices Act” (H.R. 3200) is a reality.
Apparently, with recent reports surfacing that,
“New Congressional Budget Office estimates predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections.”
the president feels the worst is over; it’s time he let Orzag out of his box.
But how?
“Orazag Weighing Obama’s Appeal to stay on as Budget Director“
Yeah right….to get Orzag back into the game with one swing, the White House needed a “positive” reason to show some public support for him; staging his departure does the trick.
What makes me think his departure announcement is a fig leaf?
According to Martha Joynt Kumar’s, “Managing the President’s Message,” a typical White House devotes five times as many people to communicate policy decisions as it does to the actual amount of individuals crafting them.
Welcome back Pete!
Filed under: politics by reportingfromnewyork
Tags: « journalism - politics - white house correspondents dinner »
No Comments »
