Obama’s Anger Problem?

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MoJo DC bureau boss-man David Corn has an interesting post over at AOL Politics Daily arguing that President Obama needs to get mad. Money quote:

In the debate over health care reform, Obama has tried to bring all the parties together: the medical profession, the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies. The plan is obvious: buy off the various special interests and prevent them from trying to kill an effort to remake a system by which they now profit greatly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on the other hand, has called insurance companies “villains”—a view that many Americans, according to the polls, are sympathetic toward. (I’ve always believed that an easy way to win an election in this country is to run against health insurance companies and cable companies. Don’t most people despise both groups?)

That’s right. I read somewhere (anyone remember where this is from?) that Sarah Palin learned during the campaign that mass politics is all about creating a drama with yourself at the center. Barack Obama did an excellent job of that during the campaign. But every drama needs a villain, and right now, the health care fight doesn’t have one. People hate their insurance companies, so insurance companies would be a great target. David’s right: if Obama’s mad, he needs to tell us who he’s mad at.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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