Obama makes ‘muscle’ threat to advocacy groups

No surprise here, that Der Promise-Breaker would release this one on the Fourth of July, to bury it deep inside the Fourth of July holiday news black hole.

I have read several blog posts about Ceci Connelly’s Washington Post story that President Barack Obama’s bitching that MoveOn, et al aren’t playing ball with him on national health care by attacking moderate Democrats.

And, all due respect even to a spot like Firedog Lake, but I don't think they are getting the full import of the issue.

I don’t think Shrub ever complained when right-wing advocacy groups went after “moderate” Republicans on any issue, for one thing.

Second, the “muscle” threat, especially with what that “muscle” might be, being left unspecified. THAT sounds almost Rovian, and I simply haven’t seen that one stressed at all.

Third, I have not read any progressive bloggers ask rhetorically if the White House in some way fingered Connolly for the story.

I mean, here we have the president who either cannot or will not lead on the most important legislative issues of his term, so far, and suddenly he has no problem using the threat of “muscle” and smackdowns against these advocacy groups:

Obama also hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats, according to the source, who did not have permission to speak on the record about the discussion.

And, the byline is from Ms. Health Insurance, Ceci Connolly, complete with anonymous comments and all the other inside Washington shinola.