Issuing a Rhetorical Surrender

Take a moment to think about what the primary message has been from the White House each day for months.

Health Care Reform. Health Care Reform. Health Care Reform.

Their war to win the hearts and minds of Americans has been grueling and faced defeat after defeat in the heartland and even in the press. Obama's final offensive took place last week with his speech to the joint session of Congress.

Unfortunately for the President, it was a flop.

From George Stephanopoulos:

Our new ABC News/Washington Post poll out this morning shows that the President’s joint session speech may have stopped his summer slide, but it doesn’t appear to have been the “game-changer” Democrats were hoping for.

While not surprising to many, the speech didn't do what many Democrats surely thought it would.

How do we know? Check out the message of the day at the beginning of the first week after the speech:

Looking in the rear view mirror one year after the Wall Street collapse heard 'round the world, President Obama hopes to convince Americans the country has not only avoided disaster, but that the time has come to scale back the expensive government rescue.

In other words, Obama is saying, "I'm trying a completely new message for the first time in months because I've given up on trying to convince you that my health care reform plan is what's best for you so I'm going to stop making it my focus and hope I can get some watered down version passed relatively quietly in Congress so I can save face."

I hate when Obama thinks in run-on sentences.