Now is no time to rest. The fight goes on against Socialism.

Bet on health care reform passing

By: Paul Begala at Politico




Hey, fellow progressives, I have a secret for you: We’re winning on health care.

As a battle-scarred veteran of President Bill Clinton’s health care fight, I know there are many dangers, toils and snares ahead. But I am optimistic that President Barack Obama will be able to sign into law a bill any fair-minded observer would call far-reaching, progressive health reform. Here’s why.

The right-wing shouting didn’t work

The conservative strategy of blowing up town hall meetings was must-see TV — as when conservatives shouted down a woman in a wheelchair. But the histrionics didn’t change any minds (Gallup shows support essentially unchanged before and after the August recess), and they didn’t change any votes. I can’t think of a single Democrat who has switched from supporting health reform to opposing it because of the right-wing primal scream strategy. It was, as Macbeth said, “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The train keeps a-rollin’

All five committees involved have, for the first time in history, reported out bills to fundamentally reform our health care system. Previous House committee chairpersons in prior Congresses wouldn’t speak to one another, much less collaborate on three very similar bills, as the Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees have. Very impressive and very encouraging.

On the Senate side, even the absence of the irreplaceable Ted Kennedy has not stopped the cause of his life. His health committee produced a first-class bill. And the Finance Committee, where every progressive feared health care would die, is in the process of producing a bill that covers 95 percent of Americans, cracks down on insurance company abuses like the pre-existing condition rule, subsidizes coverage for the poor, wallops insurance companies with taxes and fees and actually reduces the deficit.

Sure, most liberals think we can do more and we can do better. But it’s most likely the Finance Committee bill will be the floor, not the ceiling. Even one year ago, a bill as progressive as Sen. Max Baucus’s would have been unimaginable in George W. Bush’s Washington.

Democrats can go it alone

Democrats must accept that bipartisanship is dead. It’s not sleeping, it’s not comatose, it’s not hiding. It is dead, dead, dead. Republicans clearly have no desire to work constructively for a bipartisan bill.

Why should they? They’re shaping the bill without giving up any votes. Even before Baucus’s proposal was publicized, the Democrats on the other four committees had adopted 181 Republican amendments. And what did the Democrats get in return for those amendments? Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not even one vote in one committee.

How can I be optimistic that Democrats alone can reform health care? Because these aren’t your parents’ Democrats. The single biggest reason, I believe, that the Democrats lost in a landslide in 1994 was because they failed on health care. More important, congressional Democrats believe it. They know it is their rear ends on the line in 2010, not Obama’s. The press will play a defeat as a disaster for the president, but the voters will visit their wrath on Democrats. That alone may explain the remarkable progress Congress has made in the face of unified and intransigent GOP opposition.

Still, even with the proverbial gun at their heads, Senate Democrats may find it nearly impossible to herd 60 cats — especially when one of them is Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the longtime opponent of progressive health care reform. But they have a Plan B: passing health care with 50 votes through reconciliation. Sure it’s a crapshoot. Sure it will annoy the GOP. But what are they going to do: Vote against it? The truth is, reconciliation is an unusual vehicle but not unprecedented. The GOP used it to pass welfare reform and the Bush tax cuts. It was used to pass other health care bills, namely, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). And if faced with the choice between reconciliation or failure, it’s an easy call.

President Obama says we’re 80 percent of the way there. I know this: When my beloved Texas Longhorns have the ball on the opposing team’s 20-yard line, don’t bet against them. And don’t bet against the Democrats passing major health care reform legislation this year.

Hat tip to LandShark5150