Observations on the interview
Peggy Noonan reviews portions of the interview below:
the Baier interview was something, and right from the beginning. Mr. Baier’s first question was whether the president supports the so-called Slaughter rule, alternatively known as “deem and pass,” which would avoid a straight up-or-down House vote on the Senate bill. (Tunku Varadarajan in the Daily Beast cleverly notes that it sounds like “demon pass,” which it does. Maybe that’s the juncture we’re at.) Mr. Obama, in his response, made the usual case for ObamaCare. Mr. Baier pressed him. The president said, “The vote that’s taken in the House will be a vote for health-care reform.” We shouldn’t, he added, concern ourselves with “the procedural issues.”
Further in, Mr. Baier: “So you support the deem-and-pass rule?” From the president, obfuscation. But he did mention something new: “They may have to sequence the votes.” The bill’s opponents would be well advised to look into that one.
Mr. Baier again: So you’ll go deem-and-pass and you don’t know exactly what will be in the bill?
Mr. Obama’s response: “By the time the vote has taken place, not only will I know what’s in it, you’ll know what’s in it, because it’s going to be posted and everybody’s going to be able to evaluate it on the merits.”
That’s news in two ways. That it will be posted — one assumes the president means on the Internet and not nailed to a telephone pole — should suggest it will be posted for a while, more than a few hours or days. So American will finally get a look at it. And the president was conceding that no, he doesn’t know what’s in the bill right now. It is still amazing that one year into the debate this could be true.
Mr. Baier pressed on the public’s right to know what is in the bill. We have been debating the bill for a year, the president responded: “The notion that this has been not transparent, that people don’t know what’s in the bill, everybody knows what’s in the bill. I sat for seven hours with —.”
Mr. Baier interrupts: “Mr. President, you couldn’t tell me what the special deals are that are in or not today.”
Mr. Obama: “I just told you what was in and what was not in.”
Mr. Baier: “Is Connecticut in?” He was referring to the blandishments — polite word — meant to buy the votes of particular senators.
Mr. Obama: “Connecticut — what are you specifically referring to?”
Mr. Baier: “The $100 million for the hospital? Is Montana in for the asbestos program? Is—you know, listen, there are people — this is real money, people are worried about this stuff.”
Mr. Obama: “And as I said before, this — the final provisions are going to be posted for many days before this thing passes.”
And yet, the day before the vote, the “final provisions” are not known, much less posted.