Posted on 03/30/2010 6:39:21 PM PDT by tarpit
The passage of US healthcare reform is enormously consequential, and not just for the things the new law aims to affect. The manner of its passage, as much as its substance, makes November’s mid-term elections pivotal. They may decide the political trajectory of the United States for the next several decades.
To see why, you must understand the improbability of what has happened. Barack Obama just tore up the US political rulebook.
A year ago there were two scenarios for healthcare reform. One was that the Democrats would carry a willing public with them and pass a comprehensive bill. Another was that opinion would cool, forcing the Democrats to settle for less. What happened was extraordinarily unlikely: the public turned against the Democrats’ proposal and the party went ahead and did it anyway.
In Europe, rule by a political class that tells voters what is good for them is an idea so familiar that it is quite taken for granted. In the United States it is novel, and not instantly welcome.
Between now and November, Democrats must persuade the country that they acted in its best interests when they overrode the public’s doubts. If they succeed and retain their majorities in Congress they will have a green light to advance their wider aims, which include tax reform, labour relations, energy and industrial policies. They will conclude that Clintonism, with its submission to centrist opinion, was an error: they will have learned that they can capture and move centrist opinion. But if voters punish their arrogance, their momentum will be stopped. US policy will be set on a very different course.
0B0Z0 doesn’t believe in any rules but his own. He seems to make it up as he goes.
And its up to the GOP to remind them why the public should stay angry.
What they shouldn't do is play prevent like they usually do.
“Between now and November, Democrats must persuade the country that they acted in its best interests when they overrode the public’s doubts.”
And if lieing to the country doesn’t work, they must ignore the public again and cheat and steal in as many elections as they can.
Dude it is the GOP that got us in this mess. When will we learn.... ? Supporting the tea party candidates is the way to go. The GOP is Lucy holding the Football for Charlie Brown.
Don’t fall for it again!
It used to be called The Constitution.
I wouldn't count on the GOP to do this...or anything else. Conservatives, or at least anti-progressives, will have to keep the flame fanned.
Voting is not sufficient punishment for the action in congress
Obama and the RATS received constant cheerleading from the MSM, notwithstanding the corruption, lies, and disregard for Senate protocol.
In the wake of Scott Brown’s election, the very stunt of the House passing the corrupt Senate bill and then recklessly using the reconciliation process in the Senate was the most biased and malicious pile of crap that the MSM ever facilitated in our nation’s history.
Any GOP administration that even attempted any such legislative chicanery would have been run out of town - with or without public opinion polls or repudiation by the voters in NJ, VA and MA.
Frankly, I hope every downsized MSM employee gets dumped onto Medicare. Just desserts.
What makes the coming months so interesting is that the outcome is uncertain. The ordinary dynamics of US politics have been overthrown. This thing could go either way.
For now, Democrats are elated and feel they have the upper hand. History is on their side, they believe, and Republican resistance is futile.
This conviction has farcical aspects. The Democrats embarked on healthcare reform with a popular new president, a filibuster-proof Senate majority, an even bigger advantage in the House of Representatives, and strong public backing for their policy. After a year of self-flagellation, with an increasingly disgusted electorate looking on, they managed to come within inches of failing. Having barely avoided this ignominy, they congratulate themselves on their discipline, tenacity and tactical brilliance.
None of this matters. When all is said and done, they won. They defeated a Republican strategy that aimed not to influence a needed reform, but simply to block any change. That made the Democrats’ victory, once achieved, total.
Whatever happens next, Mr Obama has lifetime immunity from the most telling charge so far levelled against him – that he is all talk. The reform he and his allies have enacted, though flawed, is a real advance for the country. Democrats sold it incompetently, but there is time to put that right. Meanwhile they are refreshed and brimming with ambition. United in success, they have direction and look purposeful.
Republicans are in a state of incoherent rage. One can see why. They won the battle for public opinion. They inflicted wounding electoral setbacks on Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and above all in Massachusetts – a liberal state, which elected a Republican running against healthcare reform to Edward Kennedy’s old seat. Mr Obama’s popularity evaporated. Yet the Democrats kept going and passed their sweeping new law. Stunned Republicans are asking, what on earth just happened?
Their party has arrived at a perilous juncture. A livid strain of fury and intolerance is coming to the fore. Conservative anger is expressing itself in ugly and violent rhetoric, and party leaders are failing to condemn this as unreservedly as they should. Their equivocation is reckless and irresponsible, but also a gross error, because it threatens to repel many of the centrists who have lately moved back toward the party.
Adding to their difficulties, Republicans now need something they never thought to acquire: a healthcare policy. The burden of proof has shifted to them. They must explain how they will fix the Democrats’ plan. As long as Mr Obama is in the White House, talk of repeal is mere whining. He has a veto. Repeal is not going to happen.
If rage and intellectual bankruptcy are the Republicans’ main enemy, hubris is the Democrats’. If they are wise, they will dial back the exultation. They will enjoy the Republicans’ impotence a little less. Polls show that healthcare reform got a bump in support immediately after passage – but a small one, and more voters still oppose it than support it. Overriding a popular majority was risky enough; rubbing the country’s nose in the fact is begging for retribution.
The Democrats need to get the public behind what they have done. Mere crowing about their success will not do that. On the merits, and as a matter of political calculation, they must also keep in mind the problems this reform is going to face. Implementing it correctly will be an enormous challenge, requiring sustained attention. They must approach this soberly – not in a mood of grinning euphoria, looking for the next door to kick through.
Both sides thus have lethal traps to avoid before voters deliver their verdict in November. It would be hard to exaggerate how much is riding on the outcome.
How about proof that he is eligible to hold office now?
I’m not a nut, just asking...
OBOZO is in for a hard fall. His arrogance is at an all time high.
Real voters know their place!
Real voters shut their face!
That's like saying the Germans “won” right after they started bombing London in WWII. 0bama won a battle, we will win the war.
“They defeated a Republican strategy that aimed not to influence a needed reform, but simply to block any change.”
This fool doesn't know what he is talking about. Republicans brought in solid proposals and lots of amendments, which the Democrats of course rejected out of hand. They are going to pay a heavy price in November.
They shoved it down our throat,,,and we are gonna ram it up their a$$. The world is about to get a walk down memory lane in november.
yep. people keep bugging me about the birth certificate. I wish the Prez would release it so that I could give a copy when it comes up in conversation.
A Pyrrhic victory, let's hope.
This might be possible if Democrats had not allowed health insurers, pharmaceutical makers, unions, trial lawyers, and a handful of states to buy their way out of the act. Because the bills were mostly kept secret before passage time is not on the side of Democrat candidates this year. Each week a new hidden flaw or adverse consequence will be exposed. That's why Obama plans to spend the next seven months trying to sell it to voters.
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