The Douthat-Sullivan Consensus

Here's Ross's recommendation to Obama, uncomfortably close to my own:

Obama ought to closet himself with every potential swing-vote Senator and congressman, hat in hand, to figure out if there’s some kind of Plan B on health care that could get passed in the next six months. There are plenty of ideas that the White House could draw on in this quest (risk pools, Medicaid expansions, anything from this Tyler Cowen list, etc.), and the final result could be sold, accurately, as an incremental alternative to the bloat of the current legislation. Then Obama could spend next year saying “message received, America” on health care, even as he picks fights with the G.O.P. on financial reform and a few other issues and waits for the economy to start adding jobs again. The goal would be to reassure a public that still likes him and still distrusts Republicans, but that clearly wants the Democrats to slow down, spend less, and face a few more curbs on their authority.

One option would be to recruit Scott Brown for the healthcare effort. Brown supports universal healthcare in Massachusetts, after all. I'd add a real challenge to the GOP on deficits, but this is roughly the comeback I'd recommend.