at the risk of sounding like michelle obama, for the first time *in a long time* i am proud of my party.

the gop leadership came to the summit at blair house yesterday prepared. they had a vigorous, incisive style. they were knowledgeable, articulate, passionate without predictable rhetoric, and fairly fearless. surprising to me, they actually were likeable!

in contrast, the democrats WERE predictable with their class warfare sob stories, their blame game accusations, and their lack of ‘memory’ on things like threats to use reconciliation. to a person, the dems were sadly void of facts and details. they looked as if they were not well grounded in sound policy yet they would still rush into this – almost desperately – all to look like their doing something, anything for their leftist base.

and obama? petulant. arrogant. haughty. smug. crabby. there was nothing presidential about him even though he was quick to remind us he was in charge.

there were several republican leaders who i thought did exceptionally well against obama. lamar alexander, who delivered the opening statement for the gop, was awesome. eric cantor’s knowledge of the bill and its landmines was terrific too. but the best was paul ryan from wisconsin:

now after 7 hours of this ‘summit’, are we any closer to a healthcare bill? i certainly hope not. and the gop leadership? it seems like they are finally listening. they were wonderfully successful in blunting the waning hopechangery and awesomeness of The One’s tired stagecraft.