Via Pundette,
According to Senate Republicans, President Obama spoke for 119 minutes, other Democrats for 114 minutes, and Congressional Republicans for 110 minutes.
Obama insisted that he could and did so because, well, because he can…
and he was going to rub it in,
and then this, via Instapundit,
This sort of thing is why many agree with Dennis,
Does anyone really think either Reid or Pelosi have the votes in hand to get the Obamacare hybrid House-Senate bill passed and into law? We are where we are precisely because Obama does not have, and never has had, enough votes amongst Congressional Democrats votes to pass health care reform. The Republicans have never been relevant to the process beyond potentially offering Democrats political cover for an unpopular vote.
The Republicans at the table yesterday understood perfectly who that health care summit was supposed to persuade: It wasn’t the public. It wasn’t Congressional Republicans. It was House and Senate Democrats. And given the fact that the Republicans did not implode, and the ground has not shifted under anyone’s feet, there is no reason to believe that those Congressional Democrats reluctant to commit lemming-like acts yesterday will be more inclined to commit them today.
Moe Lane has the Congressional Democrats still wondering who the sucker was at yesterday’s summit.
Imagine for a moment a world where the 112th Congress is not being run by Pelosi and Reid. Do you think that the President might end up with a health care reform bill that… forget ‘he can happily sign to show how bipartisan he is.’ At this point, the President will settle for a bill that he can actually sign. Which was the ostensible point of this summit to begin with; and the only event of real note there was a rather pointed refutation of the Democratic lie that Republicans have no health care ideas or plans. Not even David Gergen wants to run with that meme anymore.
While the summit gave the Republicans a chance to showcase their ideas on healthcare reform, Betsy called the summit Blair Bipartisan Baloney.
IBD has more, After Health Debate, Obama Threatens Dem-Only Strategy
I’m inclined to agree with James Joyner, though,
All in all, I’d say that the real winner were those of us who didn’t spend seven hours watch[ing].
