One of the most insane expectations to come out of Barack Obama's campaign for Barack Obama's presidency was the misguided notion that the President was going to act as Senator, Congressman, Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice. As Kriss (aka @insanityreport) reminded people this morning, POTUS doesn't write legislation: The President's staff can suggest, poke and prod...but at the end of the day its the 100 member senate & 433 member House that write bills.

Ezra Klein bipartisanship is unlikely to take root at Thursday's summit and Nate Silver seems to agree when he tweets "my gut instinct is more pessimistic than the consensus". Taking a quick look at the summary [PDF DOWNLOAD], am of two minds.

It's not a new "third way out" but a reconciliation bill. It goes after the Ben Nelson bribery FMAP provision by eliminating it and expanding Medicare coverage to all states --trying to make up for one of the biggest mistakes during the Health Care Reform negotiations. Yet, by making no mention of the anti-abortion provision or the public option, it leaves the first one intact and the second one out of this bill.

The only interesting addition is the hot-button government oversight and regulation proposal for a Health Insurance Rate Authority. By calling upon the need for more transparency and fiscal responsibility, it kind of smacks every obstructionist that has invoked those two arguments in their efforts to stop health care reform.

Yet am with Ezra and Nathan : Will this bill really make a difference? My gut instinct hasn't been screaming no since last night. It's been completely revolted since the day universal health care & insurance was not declared as a mission and a right during these negotiations. And as Stupak is still in, immigrants are still discriminated from coverage and the public option is out, there's still no reason to cheer.

Links to Key Provisions in the President’s Proposal:

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I can't even wrap my head around this piece of news via Gabo Pagán. I mean, seriously, how stupid does the GOP think Latinos? Absurdly Premature 2012 Watch, Vol. 2: The Governor of Puerto Rico ... for President? - The Gaggle Blog - Newsweek.com

A party whose base is animated in part by its opposition to illegal immigration is probably not going to "import" someone, as it were, for the biggest job in the land. But in the age of Obama, the GOP is suffering from a serious dearth of credible minority leaders—people who can speak with authority to an increasingly multiethnic electorate. And the shortfall is especially glaring in regard to Latinos, who are the country's fastest-growing minority group (they represented 7.4 percent of the electorate in 2008, up from 6 percent in 2004 and 5.4 percent in 2000) but are trending heavily Democratic, despite their religious, family-first leanings (George W. Bush took 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004 versus only 31 percent for John McCain in 2008).

This is where Fortuño comes in. For Republicans, using Fortuño to fuel the eternal flame of 2012 speculation serves to make the GOP seem, at least, like a more welcoming place for Latinos—however whimsical his chances of reaching the White House currently are.

The stupidity ... it burns.

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This never ever gets old. H/T Metafilter.

Supposedly, it takes a lot for Rahm Emmanuel to be speechless. We've discovered what that could be: A Nobel Peace Prize for his boss. In Surprise, Obama Wins Nobel for Diplomacy - NYTimes.com

“There has been no discussion, nothing at all,” said Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, in a brief telephone interview.

Mr. Emanuel said he had not yet spoken directly to the president, but that he believed Mr. Obama may have been informed of the award by his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. There was no official comment from the White House. However, a senior administration official said in an e-mail message that Mr. Gibbs called the White House shortly before 6 a.m. and woke the president with the news.

“The president was humbled to be selected by the committee,” the official said, without adding anything further.

You hear that? It's the collective sonic boom of republican heads exploding.

David asked Obama if he thought all the screaming and gnashing of teeth over the summer was racially motivated to which he replied, "I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election." That could be interpreted many ways and yet, what was curious was that when asked how long he had been black, the president couldnt answer. I smell a rat

There. I said it.

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