Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT) is a lucky man, or should I say his brother, Scott. The same day Matheson agreed to support the Obama health care plan, Obama appointed Scott Matheson, Jr. to the U.S. 10th District Court. Naturally, the White House denies any connection between these two events. But if the timing of this isn’t fishy enough for you, here are other examples.

Last week, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) made news during his U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania. Obama and the DNC committed themselves to supporting ex-RINO Arlen “Magic Bullet” Specter to keep his seat. Specter was getting clobbered in the polls as he faced a primary fight against Pat Toomey as the GOP candidate. After Specter switched parties and ‘officially’ became a Democrat (giving then their 60 vote majority), he was quickly facing Sestak as a challenger for the Democrat primary. In a very strange announcement last week, Sestak said he was offered jobs by the White House if he dropped out of the race.

In Colorado, it has been reported by the Denver Post that Andrew Romanoff was offered a job specifically by White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Jim Messena, if Romanoff dropped out of his primary race against Sen. Michael Bennet. In both cases, Sestak and Romanoff declined the offers, seeing that this is a good year to campaign against incumbents.

Obama and the Democrats have been pulling out all the stops to get some sort of health care bill passed. Yesterday, Obama once again took to the podium and made another speech. With a backdrop of doctors in white lab coats, and some hideous golden drapes, Obama declared that the timing for talking was over. He called for an “up or down vote”, deliberately avoiding using the term, reconciliation.

Health care has turned into a huge mess for Obama and Democrats in Congress. Months wasted on fruitless negotiations, ‘Cornhusker Kickbacks’ and other bribes have tarnished his once lofty ambition of making public health care the pinnacle of an Obama legacy. Even yesterday, he continued to talk up that aspect, since no president has achieved it since proposed by Truman in the late 1940s.

James Carville, former Clinton political guru, has joined the chorus of GOP analysts comparing health care with Waterloo. It would seem clear now, given the public’s opposition, that Obama will become a political exile whether it passes now or not. But the Democrat leadership has decided that whatever the outcome, they must pass something now.

Even once ardent supporters are turning against him. The anti-war crowd is mad about his expansion of the War in Afghanistan and a whole new war in Pakistan. The anti-Patriot Act crowd is furious over Obama and Congressional Democrats not only extending it another year, but adding to the government’s ability to spy on citizens. Gay Rights and Abortion Right advocates see him as dragging his feet on their needs. Oh, and then there’s that whole unemployment problem. Don’t worry about that one, it was just caused by snow.

So look for more judge, ambassador and agency appointments from the Obama White House over the next few weeks. If Jim Matheson will sell out his vote so his brother Scott can be a judge, I’m sure that plenty of others will have their own price. It is politics as usual in Washington. So how’s that whole hope-y-change-y thing working out for you?