Obama: I refuse to tell you what I think

Obama’s big speech on healthcare was supposed to be the turning point where he took control of the debate. On CNN Sunday morning, he didn’t sound like he’d take charge:

[JOHN KING:]if the Baucus bill made it to your desk as is, would you sign it? Does it meet your goals?

OBAMA: Well, that’s such a hypothetical, since it won’t get there as is, that I’m not going to answer that question. But can I say that, it does meet some broad goals that all the bills that have been introduced meet.

KING: Is it better than the others?

Obama refused to address that question head on. I’m not so troubled by evasions per se. They are part of the game that politicians play on Sunday morning. Perhaps behind the scenes, the President is now actively shaping the various reform bills. But it sure sounds like not much has changed since July or August.

On a related note, Obama took a very soft line on the town hall uprisings:

You know, I’ve got to tell you that, as I said before, you
know, yelling at politicians is as American as apple pie. I mean,
that’s — that’s in our DNA. We — I said this in the speech to the
joint session, that we have a long tradition of being skeptical of
government.

Hmm. That doesn’t ring a bell. But I checked. Obama made exactly that point, twice:

One of the unique and wonderful things about America has always been our self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government…

I understand how difficult this health care debate has been. I know that many in this country are deeply skeptical that government is looking out for them.

Not surprisingly, that kind of boilerplate about America’s “wonderful” skepticism of government doesn’t get paid much attention. But when you read it together with Obama’s comments about the virtue of yelling at politicians, it suggests he knows the opposition to reform is coming from the mainstream, not from a right-wing fringe.