Remember when many conservatives said that Republicans should stay away from the Health Care Summit called for by President Obama? Because it would be a sham? Because the president was not really interested in open debate?
Oh. My.
Jonah Goldberg was right when he said sham or no sham the Republicans should go. They did. The first day alone has been interesting.
The Republicans were given an opportunity to make their points without being filtered or misrepresented by the mainstream media. And boy did they use it.
I think in some ways this has hurt President Obama. He does not respond well when people disagree with him or challenge him. And he and the Democrats did not have good responses to some of the Republican arguments. They did not even try to respond to most of them.
But I also think it may help him. He has finally allowed an open debate. He sat there and took it. He has an opportunity to make some changes to his healthcare reform plan that just might gain bipartisan support. If he is willing to learn and adapt he just might get healthcare reform – even if it is not the reform he originally wanted.
{More later.}
