I’m not as frustrated with President Obama’s performance as Bill Maher is in the clip below.  I am in agreement with Joe Klein in this piece that Obama’s first 100 days were probably the most successful first 100 days since FDR.  But in my view, there’s something to Maher’s scathing critique from the left.  For all of Obama’s achievements so far, and there are many solid ones, health care reform and clean energy were two of the top priorities that he campaigned on.  These two issues were major reasons why many people voted for him.  And while I understand that we are currently facing some of the most difficult economic circumstances in decades, Maher is correct when he asks, “Speaking of the Republicans, if you can’t shove some real reform down their throats now, then when?”  The Republicans are almost irrelevant at this stage in terms of their numbers and lack of credibility with the American people.  So why am I reading this report saying that health care reform may be “on the rocks”?  Here is Maher’s commentary on Presidnet Obama’s recent efforts to achieve major legislative victories:

Now, I’m not sure if Maher wants Obama to use all of George W. Bush tactics to achieve victories.  Bush’s dishonesty, cynicism, and scare tactics were a major reason I turned against him in the lead-up to the Iraq war.  I don’t want to see Obama sink to these levels to achieve his goals.  At the same time, something has to give.  I think Maher is correct when he says that Obama needs to worry less about his popularity and more about getting the job done.  The people in the White House seem to believe that as long as Obama’s approval numbers stay high, his personal popularity will translate into support for his agenda.  But I doubt that.  Obama needs to clearly state to the American people what needs to be done.  And the fact is, a real public option that is backed by the government and that will have the weight to offer real competition to the insurance industry is what needs to be done.  Robert Reich got it exactly right in this piece.  Maybe it’s not what we want to hear.  But as Obama said on the campaign trail in the primaries, as President he was going to tell us not just what we wanted to hear, but what we needed to hear.

It was unacceptable for the President to give just one major speech on health care last week as the health care bill began to stall in the Senate.  And who noticed that speech in Green Bay besides Wisconsinites?  He needs to be out there more.  He needs to be educating the American people about why we must have health care reform NOW.  He needs to explain to the American people exactly how his plan will control health care costs and how it is a bigger financial risk to make incremental changes than to act boldly.  And finally, he needs to tell some uncomfortable truths, and clearly lay out how he will control entitlement spending in order to cut the deficit.  In the past, Obama has risen to the challenge at just the right time and used his communication skills to persuade enough people to come to his side in order to win battles.  Now he needs to do that, and he needs to show more vigor than he has been showing lately.

He didn’t have to be here.  Many people, including me, worried that he may have been taking on too much this year in his agenda.  But now that he has chosen to tackle health care reform by the end of the year, he needs to go out and get it done.  As citizens and supporters of health care reform, we need to do our part as well.  Otherwise, we will not see the real change that was promised during the campaign.  And if not, then what did we work so hard for during the campaign?

UPDATE: I corrected the horrible grammatical errors that I missed when I first posted this.  Please excuse that lapse.