I wonder if we could somehow get President Barack Obama a copy of The American President...

As you know, I've been getting a sinking feeling about President Obama (and his administration)'s apparent desire to make nice with Republicans. Especially at the expense of the progressives who got him elected or what I think they used to call "real, meaningful reform."

I'm far from the only one. Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect, for example, penned a piece for Huffington in which he says:

Clearly, the administration playbook is to stick to the high road and not take the argument to the other side. But the strategy isn't working. The approval ratings for both the president and for his health plan are falling. He isn't even inspiring his own strongest grass roots backers to turn out in numbers at support rallies.

Now, this is the end of a speech from The American President, one of my favorite movies (& my first Sorkin!). It's a speech that would make anybody in the liberal wing of the Democratic party's heart surge with warmth.

We've got serious problems, and we need serious people, and if you want to talk about character, Bob, you'd better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up.

As you also know, when I am feeling low about my government and elected leaders, I like to think of Presidents as played by Martin Sheen. Or in this case, Michael Douglas. Instead, I got...

(And now we're back to the HuffPo. BTW, there is no significance to the fact that the writer of that post is named Robert, and the character Douglas is addressing in the quote is called Bob. Just a coincidence.)

Instead, I got...

At his own town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire August 11, Obama was quite eloquent and detailed on the foolishness of the "death panel" lies, and he also said this:

Every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got. They use their influence. They use their political allies to scare and mislead the American people. They start running ads. This is what they always do.

But, oddly, he didn't name the "special interests" (like the insurance and drug industry) because they are nominally part of his reform coalition.

I wonder if we could somehow get President Barack Obama a copy of The American President.