At one of those journalism roundtables we like to do, The Politico picked up some intruiging comments from the cadre of New York Times reporters who cover President-elect Obama this weekend. Correspondent Peter Baker, who has some of the best Obama sources** around, suggested that the new president:
"....would tackle smaller-scale issues related to his major agenda items as a kind of political "down payment" on his promises, for now would retreat from even some of his firmest pledges.
"You're not going to see universal health care, I don't think, this year," Baker said. "You're not going to see a cap on carbon emissions, as he has promised, probably, this year."
And for all of his campaign trail talk about collective sacrifice, Baker observed, Obama has seemed reluctant to call for austerity in a challenging economic moment.
"He hasn't asked anybody for sacrifice," Baker said. "His whole economic package is about giving things to people
Obama has indeed talked about the need to sacrifice and hasn't been too specific. What I assume Obama means is that the administration will, in its first budget, cut popular, existing programs and is prepared to recognize the reality of what it'll take to reform entitlements; some form of benefit cuts, eligibility changes, and tax hikes. This is the "Grand Bargain," as Obama agreed it should be called.
But health care, primarily, and cap-n-trade, secondarily, are proceeding along separate tracks in Congress. Both changes will require multiple committees and heavy lifting, but there is no indication right now that Democrats are going to postpone consideration of them. Should cap-and-trade prove too difficult for Congress to handle, Obama can begin to knit a new system together through already existing state laws.
Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, said in an e-mail that that a cap-and-trade regime and health care reform are still on the Year 1 agenda "as evidence by investments we are making as part of the economic recovery and reinvestment plan in health technology and tax incentives for altnerative energy."
It's true that the health care piece won't be ready for mark-up the day after the inauguration, as Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus had hoped.
But sources say that, even as they work primarily on the stimulus package, Obama advisers and Congressional aides continue to meet to hash out the details of a health care reform bill to be introduced in fairly short order.
** = he certainly has better sources than I do.
| 
