Right or wrong, the WH is very much acting in the conscious shadow of 2009. Not only going short on the negotiations, but also the admin appears to be taking reins on policy details, much different than BHO's strategy of proposing broad points, letting Congress do details. 1/ https://twitter.com/mikememoli/status/1356961966435229703

Of course, the hands-off approach taken by the Obama WH in 2009 was an action taken in the conscious shadow of 1993; they were very determined not to end up in the Clinton trap of writing the ACA in the basement of the WH and leaving Congress out of the process. 2/

The '09 stimulus also had a similar imprint, with the WH really leaving the policy choices underneath the topline number largely to the appropriations and chamber leaders to hash out. 3/

The thing I remember most is that many on the Hill were desperate for more administration leadership on ACA. It was sort of a bizzaro separation of powers situation. Many on the Hill really thought big policy could be made except in by a POTUS-driven-details strategy. 4/

I still remember Dem Hill staffers making gallows humor jokes in late 2009 and early 2010 when everything was floundering about how everything was going to be ok, because the WH would be sending over their health care bill any day now. 5/

So one lesson of all this is that leaders tend to remember the lessons of the last war. Another is that the Biden WH may be much more active in legislative policy leadership. A third is that they probably aren't going to waste a lot of time negotiating with the GOP. /end

And yes, it goes back further! https://twitter.com/mattngreen/status/1356983490588381184?s=20

And yes, side note, it's important to remember that 2009 had both the stimulus and the ACA, and they were very different politics. https://twitter.com/MattGlassman312/status/1356984496315392001?s=20