GOP-er says POTUS must lead
By ALEXANDER BURNS
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0809/dole_step_it_up_0930b196-7527-418e-9ee7-20fe4ec573f1.html
It's not just liberal Democrats in Congress who are urging President Obama to take a firmer stand on health care reform legislation ...
... former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) writes in the Washington Post Monday that Obama needs to "write his own bill."
Dole: "If I were a White House adviser, I would suggest that the day Congress reconvenes, President Obama's version of reform should be introduced by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. Health-care reform is the vital issue of our time, and Obama should be out front with his specific plan on this make-or-break issue.
"Many of us were taught that the president proposes and Congress disposes. Today, Congress is doing both -- with the president relegated to the role of cheerleader in chief as he campaigns for various House committees' efforts. Certainly, Obama supports much in these proposals -- but Barack Obama is our president, not a commentator.
"Obama's approval numbers would jump 10 points if Americans knew he was fully in charge. A tactical move of introducing his own plan would also stir more Republicans to become active for reform in critical areas. Right now the president's biggest problem is with congressional Democrats, who are split and searching for a way out of the medical wilderness."
By ALEXANDER BURNS
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0809/dole_step_it_up_0930b196-7527-418e-9ee7-20fe4ec573f1.html
It's not just liberal Democrats in Congress who are urging President Obama to take a firmer stand on health care reform legislation ...
... former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) writes in the Washington Post Monday that Obama needs to "write his own bill."
Dole: "If I were a White House adviser, I would suggest that the day Congress reconvenes, President Obama's version of reform should be introduced by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. Health-care reform is the vital issue of our time, and Obama should be out front with his specific plan on this make-or-break issue.
"Many of us were taught that the president proposes and Congress disposes. Today, Congress is doing both -- with the president relegated to the role of cheerleader in chief as he campaigns for various House committees' efforts. Certainly, Obama supports much in these proposals -- but Barack Obama is our president, not a commentator.
"Obama's approval numbers would jump 10 points if Americans knew he was fully in charge. A tactical move of introducing his own plan would also stir more Republicans to become active for reform in critical areas. Right now the president's biggest problem is with congressional Democrats, who are split and searching for a way out of the medical wilderness."
