The C-Span promises

Obama's C-Span promises keep giving. On the Daily Show last night, Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee flattened the president.

The clip of Obama repeatedly promising to broadcast the health care negotiations on C-Span could easily take on the same life as Nixon's "I'm not a crook": A constant reminder of what many suspected - the president is a liar. The difference is Nixon was on his way out. In less than nine month's he was gone. Obamacare will haunt Obama for the next three years. Anyone attacking his broken promises on health care now has a concise, visual, and damning launching pad.

The politics of this are hellish for the White House. This story fits all the criteria of "game changer".

-Easy to understand promise: Obama made explicit, direct promises about C-Span and health care.

-Flip flop on promise: The current flip flop is easy for anyone to see- even those who don't pay attention to politics. (Think: "read my lips..")

-An issue the public is engaged on: The bill is unpopular and health care, like taxes, affects everyone.

-The narrative is already in place: The health care news has been dominated by the "cornhusker kickback" for the past 2 weeks seeding the perception of corruption before the C-Span story unfolded. The C-Span promise clips prove and expand this perception.

- Credibility is already being openly questioned on another major issue: This story erupted on the heals of the Christmas day bombing attempt and the ensuing perception that Obama's team - and Obama himself - were asleep at the switch. Napolatano's "The system worked" moment was only a few weeks ago.

In a compact series of news cycles Obama's credibility and competence has been assaulted on the two fronts: National security and health care.

For those of us who watch politics closely it might be easy to miss the damage "C-Span-gate" is causing. There he goes again was my initial reaction. In fact, with Obama's attempt to right the ship in the days after Napolatano's inane remarks I thought he'd recover a bit. This debacle has nullified any potential recovery.

The story hammers one of Obama's weakest areas -the perception that he is all hat and no cowboy. That he's "just words". He doesn't mean what he says or say what he means . This complaint has been hovering around the edges for months now. It's now taken center stage. It has legs.

If the health care bill was popular this story would be D.O.A. Because a belligerent Democratic leadership is about to pass it into law despite the popular blow back, (or to spite it) the clips of Obama promising an open process will live on for months and probably years. Obama's radio address today tauting the immediate changes in the bill - some of which are popular - is an attempt to blunt the C-Span disaster. But it begs one easy question: If the bill is so beneficial why can't the negotiations be public?

The complaint that Obama is a socialist out to wreck the country only resonates with those already predisposed to distrust him. The C-span moment is of a different political magnitude. It goes to credibility. No president can survive without credibility. Obama's has taken a severe hit.