It didn't have to be this way. It really didn't.

The epic struggle for healthcare reform is entering its final days in Washington. And the Democrats (being Democrats) have managed to snatch political suicide from the jaws of legislative victory. But, I keep thinking, it didn't have to be this way. If we had had some real leadership from two key Democrats named Obama and Reid, we wouldn't be where we are now.

Democrats have now positioned themselves so that they will lose politically, no matter what happens in Congress in the next few weeks. Well, I should qualify that by saying there's a slim chance for a better outcome than the one that appears inevitable at this point, but that chance is rapidly disappearing as the calendar dwindles between now and the real deadline for a signing ceremony -- President Obama's State Of The Union address next month.

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President Obama seems to be in the midst of a mini press tour at the moment. To help any future mainstream media interviewers out (should they be at a loss for questions to ask the president), I think it's time to pin Obama down on a few subjects.

So today I offer up the questions I would ask, were I interviewing President Obama in the next week or so. Because you never know what media outlet he'll pop up in next.

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First, my apologies. This is going to be a poor excuse for a column, and as a result won't even be posted on Huffington Post, as I normally do on Mondays. We're still dealing with the maintenance backlog here, and preparing for an upgrade. So I didn't even have time today to write a normal column. Which is why I'm apologizing up front.

Instead, today, I'd just like to throw a question open to everyone. Here in California, one of our state legislators would hold a contest each year called "There ought to be a law." Average citizens could write in and propose legislation on any topic, no matter how small or trivial, and the winner would be actually written up and introduced as a bill to the state legislature. Sometimes, it even worked, and a new law was born as a result -- mostly commonsense things that people assumed were illegal already. And mostly small issues that annoy normal people, but which never seem to rise to the level of being noticed by lawmakers.

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Before we begin, I'd like to offer up an apology to Tiger Woods. Last week, I pointed out the hilarity of Woods being a paid spokesman for Gatorade (since their slogan is: "Is It In You?"). This week, Gatorade announced it will be dropping its Tiger Woods sports drink, since obviously the bigwigs at Gatorade are big fans of this column. Ahem. So for the lost income, Tiger, I am truly sorry. Really, I am. Times are tough all over, and I do apologize for your lost income, since you may now be forced to live hand-to-mouth on the mere billion dollars you have in the bank. To say nothing of what divorce will do to your bottom line.

OK, sarcasm (and crocodile tears) aside, let's quickly move on to politics. The past week in Washington has seen somewhat of a frenzy of activity. So many things are getting done (or at least getting talked about) that it's almost impossible to keep track of everything. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on your point of view, of course.

Part of this frenzy is the normal end-of-the year rush in Congress to actually do what they should have been doing all year long -- passing some bills. This happens every year around this time, as the Congresscritters scurry about in a spasm of legislation, so they can take another few weeks off before next year's session begins. "Taking a few weeks off" is the one thing that Congress truly excels at, of course -- evidenced by their stunningly generous vacation schedule all year long. They politely call these vacations "district work periods," which fools absolutely nobody. But, after taking more time off than George W. Bush ever did, Congress always finds itself at the end of the year with a whole stack of things they have failed to accomplish. Which results in a frenzy of things getting passed, or at least debated.

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[Below is the transcript of the speech President Obama's gave accepting the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. It is an interesting speech, and not exactly the normal remarks given by past recipients. Obama notes the irony of accepting an award for peace just after announcing he will escalate a war. But rather than comment upon Obama's words, we thought it would be better to just present an unedited transcript for you to read today.]

-- Chris Weigant

A Just and Lasting Peace
by Barack Obama
Oslo, Norway 12/10/09

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

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News broke last night that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has what he thinks is a viable compromise piece of healthcare reform legislation, which he thinks could garner the 60 votes he needs to pass the Senate. Unfortunately, details of this compromise have not been officially announced, and Harry is waiting to get numbers from the Congressional Budget Office (C.B.O.) before releasing the text. So, while an accurate assessment of the bill is impossible at this point (since it's like trying to nail smoke to a wall), we can at least begin to look at what is taking shape, based solely on the rumors and leaks in the press so far.

The big headline is, of course, "public option scrapped." But, strangely enough, this hasn't caused the outcry one would have expected among progressive Democrats. In fact, Dr. Howard Dean has openly supported the compromise, calling it "real reform." Which is no real surprise, since it has been reported that Dean was the one to propose the new tradeoff -- which, if true, would tend to automatically make Dean a supporter of his own idea.

So let's attempt to take as good a look as possible at the smoky, smoky details which are emerging from the perpetual metaphysical fog on Capitol Hill.

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Over the next few weeks here at ChrisWeigant.com, we will be going through a period of upgrades and system maintenance. This (hopefully) will not require a major redesign of the site layout, so after we're done you should see a site very similar to what you are looking at now. We will try our best to keep disruptions and interruptions to a minimum, and will strive to deliver our regular daily columns (except on the weekends, of course). However, to kick off this season of uncertainty here, today's column will, regrettably, be posted much later than normal.

If you have been experiencing any problems with the site in the past, or if you have suggestions for improvements in general, please use the Email Chris page to let us know. And if you experience any problems during the upgrade period, please also do not hesitate to let us know about it. Any major disruptions in service will (hopefully) be preceded by a Program Note similar to this one, to warn our readers what to expect.

Thank you, as always, for your patience and understanding.

-- Chris Weigant

As 2009 draws to a close, the politically wonky among us begin to turn our eyes towards the 2010 election landscape. Congressional midterm elections will be taking place less than a year from now, meaning (while some might consider it laughably premature) it is time to pay some attention to the upcoming races.

But as I sat down to write about this very subject, I found that fellow Huffington Post blogger Dylan Loewe had already done a stellar job with the subject. So, rather than taking the angle Loewe has already excellently explored, I will instead merely excerpt his seven pieces of advice for Democrats who are worried about the upcoming midterms. These are just the titles of his seven tactics, I should point out -- Loewe further explains each one, in detail. I highly recommend reading his article in full to see exactly what he's talking about, because all of them are worth the attention of anyone concerned with Democrats' chances next year..

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Before we get to all of that boring political stuff, we tune in to what the mainstream media has decided is the official Thing Everyone Should Be Talking About This Week. I refer, of course, to Tiger Woods. Woods, as we all know by now, had an altercation recently involving, in whatever mix you choose to believe: (1) an SUV, (2) a fire hydrant, (3) a tree, (4) his own driveway, (5) a golf club (how perfectly apropos!), and (6) his wife. Of course, there may have been a (7) or even (8) involved as well ("The Other Women"), but they were indirect players, at best, in the actual altercation.

To which I would like to throw my own wackadoodle conspiracy theory into the midst, since we're all having such fun obsessing over the incident. Consider, for a moment, two of Tiger's major sponsors: Nike and Gatorade. Why would I bring these up, you wonder? Because I think Tiger's under a subtle form of mind control, which may have caused him to consider extramarital hanky-panky as a good idea. Allow me to present two facts to support my tinfoil-hat thinking.

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At first glance, it seems like nobody's happy with President Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, announced Tuesday night before an audience of West Point cadets. Voices from the left and right (for different reasons, of course) are decrying the president's decision as not what they wanted to hear. Hard-liners are attempting to score political points, from both sides of the aisle. But when you strip away the heated rhetoric, what remains? To me, the core question becomes: "Is Obama's new policy a good thing or a bad thing, and does it have a chance of working?" OK, that's really two questions. And, for now, I think the answer to both is: "Maybe." Maybe, and then again, maybe not.

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