The Alternate Histories of Chuck Schumer

New York Senator Chuck Schumer "won the morning," as the saying goes, by telling a National Press Club audience that the Democrats of 2009 "put all our focus on the wrong problem—health care reform." As The New Republic's Brian Beutler pointed out, Schumer had said this before, though not before so many cameras, and not during a news cycle that's typically easy to "win." (Had the Ferguson decision not happened on Monday, Schumer's speech would have easily been the political story of the pre-Thanksgiving lull.) The newness of the approach brought out a triad of Obama administration veterans, all former messengers who now work in the private sector. First, former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.