Today's Meet The Press, guest moderated well by Chuck Todd, ran through a series of differing yet important topics, which we'll discuss individually, however, the phrase that comes to mind as an overriding theme is that 'politics is all about perception.' What makes that phrase relevant to the discussion about Mr. Putin and Russia, Governor Chris Christie, and President Obama and the Healthcare law is that all three characters are big on the offensive right now, portraying confidence. In observing their respective statements and posture, all of them are in a much weaker position than they let on.
First look at Mr. Putin, who called the U.S. president to discuss a diplomatic resolution to the crisis with Ukraine; the result of which is Secretary Kerry turning his plane around to meet with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Paris. The call between the two leaders shows that amid all the militarily aggressive moves from Mr. Putin he knows that he's in a very vulnerable position. If the second round of sanctions that President Obama is pushing for with the U.S.'s European Allies are agreed upon, Russia's fragile economy is going to get much worse very quickly and in places like Crimea, such as in South Ossentia, they'll be thinking caveat emptor.. for sure.
With that said, the negotiations that Mr. Putin wants are a stall tactic to put off the sanctions. The Obama Administration should recognize this and impose the sanctions anyway.
And before going on, it's worth noting that Rick Santorum's assessment during the round table that this would not have happened and that the relationship is in 'tatters' due to the Obama Administration 'resetting from a position of weakness,' just shows his simplistic lack of depth of the subject.
Mr. Putin played his hand in Crimea, and is using the military build-up along the Ukrainian border as an attempt the broaden his leverage. Mr. Obama should now impose sanctions immediately to provide counter-pressure, and then negotiations should begin. As former ambassador to Moscow Mike McFaul said, Mr. Putin can not be given the leverage to start negotiating other countries' sovereignty. He phrased it, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable." That's the perception, but it isn't the reality unless the west makes it so. When Mr. Lavrov says that Russia has no intention of moving into Ukraine, but what he means is that they will not move unless given an excuse to do so.
Another politician, on the more local front, that's also making aggressive moves despite being in a very fragile position of legitimacy is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who has been on a media offensive this week, showing off his old Christie-style bravado again to the press. He's on the offensive because he indeed knows the fragile reality, and that is his political career hangs in the balance.
When a lawyer, hired by Mr. Christie, issues a report this week that the governor commissioned which did not contain any interviews of any of the five key witnesses in the case, you know it's a purely political document that could in effect only raise suspicions of what really happened and who knew what when even more. And this is what Mr. Christie is hanging his hat on, but the big donors in Las Vegas, like us, aren't totally convinced. Mr. Christie's lawyer called it a vindication, but that's hardly the case at all. Even former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani admitted the report wasn't complete or conclusive, and he's been Mr. Christie's biggest defender. (After Mr. Giuliani admitted that fact, he spent the next few minutes ineffectively nuancing that answer.)
So to use our own forum to answer the Facebook question - Can Chris Christie's presidential prospects recover from the Bridge Scandal? - We'll say that he will to a degree, but this scandal (even if it doesn't blow up any further, which it will) along with other attacks will prevent him from ever getting the nomination.
Lastly, that brings us to the fragile potential success of Mr. Obama's signature healthcare law, the ACA, as we come to the registration deadline. Mr. Todd was spot on when he commented that Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic and Avik Roy of Forbes magazine had a very thoughtful policy debate and that he wished more were like that. Those are the types of debates that should be the standard of Meet The Press, and it's a shame you don't see them as much anymore.
Mr. Cohn, advocating for the law, noted that 6 million sign-ups is a promising sign and that it's too early to tell what the total is since young people tend to wait as long as possible. If the number were to stay at 6 million to start, you would still have to concede (if you oppose the law) that it was successful. However, to Mr. Roy's valid point, if not enough young people sign up, many people could see their premiums go up without receiving any benefit from the ACA. It could in fact end costing much more than Democrats let on, which will be politically disastrous.
Mr. Roy also didn't think the law was beyond repeal, and if you take any stock in the analysis Mr. Todd did on the races for Senate, it's a definite possibility. If Republicans gain control of the Senate to go along with control of the House, you know that a full repeal vote is the first thing on the agenda. But wouldn't that present its own fragile reality? You repeal the law, to the euphoria of the Republican base, but have no real alternative to replace it with in effect taking away insurance from millions of people. How well is that going to go over?
Round Table former Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum; national editor
of the Cook Political Report Amy Walter; Peter Baker of the New York
Times; and the youngest mayor in the history of Ithaca, NY, Svante
Myrick
A Couple of Questions...
We're proud of Senator Ron Wyden's (D-Ore) stand in opposition to the N.S.A.'s mass data collection, but isn't odd that the Senator doesn't have a straight forward answer on the question of whether or not Edward Snowden is a criminal? What ever his answer, no matter, but he doesn't have one?
And when you see Meet The Press produce a new segment "Meeting America," doesn't it make you ask why they don't just bring back the "Meet The Press Minute?" keeping the content more directly relevant to the program itself. It does have the history that the other programs do not.
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