Eugene Robinson: Health Care: Pass It or Perish

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/health_care_pass_it_or_perish_20100222/

Health Care: Pass It or Perish

Posted on Feb 22, 2010
By Eugene Robinson

snip//

Democrats have already paid a political price for tackling health reform at a time when voters are hurting from the recession, anxious about the economy and wary of new government initiatives. There is no way they can avoid facing this line of attack in the fall. The question, at this point, is whether Republicans will be able to toss in allegations of gutlessness and incompetence: The Democrats controlled the White House and all of Congress, and still couldn’t get it done.

And how will Democrats answer? “Um, we worked really hard on health care reform, and we’re still convinced that it’s vitally necessary, but we got scared by the polls and so we backed off. Vote for us!”

If the party is going to take a political hit anyway, it might as well get the benefits—which are considerable. When Republicans scream about “big government” and “socialism” and all that, Democrats need to be able to tell voters that this whole exercise brought real change: no refusals of insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. No arbitrary increases in insurance premiums. Coverage for 31 million Americans who are now uninsured. A major step toward limiting the unsustainable long-term rise in health care costs.

House Democrats, who passed a more progressive reform bill, may have to hold their noses to accept Obama’s proposal. Senate Democrats may need their spines stiffened to go through with the reconciliation maneuver; perhaps it will give them courage to imagine how they will look if they reject a bill that is all but identical to one they passed a couple of months ago.

The hour is late. The time is now. Just do it.

[depakid]

1. "we got scared by the polls and so we backed off."

Considering that they gutted the popular aspects of the legislation and replaced them with decidedly unpopular provisions- and handed out tons of money to even more "popular" corporations, that statement is patently absurd.

If Democrats cared about the polling data as much as their corporate lobbyist pals, they'd have passed a robust public option with a surcharge on the wealthy, and left people who already had with decent health care benefits alone.

[niceypoo]

2. Any Democratic politician who reacts to polls deserves to lose

Because they are too scared to do anything

[unblock]

4. correct, it's should read, "we got scared by the threats of lobbyists pulling their contributions"

[Clio the Leo]

3. Kick and Rec. NT

[Kyril Enko]

5. Kicked and rec'd