You know, I think maybe the most powerful problem here is the Democrat operatives here, or maybe even conservatives, haven’t grasped that this big election victory provided a FAR SMALLER majority than Obama had up to Nov 2010.
The GOP majority is not big at all. Obama had 60 votes in the Senate until Kennedy died, and even with those votes they fought and scrambled and worried about losing seats. When Kennedy died and Scott Brown got that seat that took them under 59 and Reconciliation was all they had . . . for a NON SINGLE PAYER plan called Obamacare. They WANTED single payer and could not get it through their own party.
Why would you imagine that with only 52 votes you can do larger things than the Dems could with 60? You’ll always have Senators who don’t agree.
Do you realize in addition to McCain, Flake and Collins, we also have 2 Senators from blue states? Nevada and Colorado. You can sneer at those 2 for being filthy RINOs, but reality is — and this is beyond just wanting to get re-elected — they have an obligation to represent their state’s people. If they are in a blue state, hardcore right wing votes is betrayal of their state.
So just get rational. You get 60 votes, or you get Reconciliation. You’ll take it, and you’ll defend it. The Dems circled the wagon around Obamacare, even when they demanded a single payer plan.
That had nothing to do with the mechanics of the Senate or the Dems' slim majority.
They didn't want single-payer because every Dem and their Momma would have lost their seats in 2012. Single-payer would have killed the Democrat Party. Even the traditional left-wing coalition groups of the Democrats saw this and encouraged to pass Obamacare with all its tricks, waivers, and subsidies. A couple of dozen of leftist moonbats pining for single-payer is not a majority of the Dem base.