Joe Cool fires up the teleprompter again

Here's the WashPost's resident Obamacare cheerleader Ezra Klein on Obama's big speech next week:

This is health-care reform's endgame, or close to it. Next Wednesday, Barack Obama will give a prime-time address before both houses of Congress. But that's not all he's giving Congress. The administration is going to put a plan down on paper. The question is what it will say.
Conversations with a number of White House officials make it clear that, at this point, even they don't know.

What the hey? If there's one thing I've learned from years of giving presentations it's this: 1) tell 'em what you're going to say, 2) say it, 3) tell 'em what you just said. After months of debate, nobody has any idea what the White House wants from health care reform other than the ambiguous and contradictory goals of "universal coverage" and "deficit neutral." Charles Krauthammer describes the options for Obama:

But he has to say x, y, and z. He has to make a pronouncement on the public option, and he also has to make a critical strategic decision. Is this about cutting costs, which will destroy him in popular opinion, or does he ignore that now and make it all about expansion of coverage and guaranteeing of coverage?

The Atlantic gives the same advice:

He also needs to clarify what he wants, what he would not tolerate and what his plan really stands for.

Details? Yeah, he's not going to do that:

But the officials said Mr. Obama was unlikely to unveil a detailed legislative plan of his own.

So what's the point of this speech other than more of the same? Well, as I like to say: when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. This is what happens, America, when you elect a guy with no executive experience, limited legislative experience, and whose sole claim to fame is that he can give a good speech. You get more speeches.

What you don't get is leadership.

Extra - Jennifer Rubin: "Looking for a way out."

More - Mickey Kaus on the possibilities: "It's possible that White House aides are deluded about Obama's persuasive powers. It's possible that they're deluded about the impact of invoking Senator Kennedy's legacy two weeks after his death."