It’s a bitter pill to swallow. For us ideological Democrats who envisioned pushing America into the ranks of the other major industrialized nations by creating affordable, universal health care, the Senate bill is a brutal disappointment. Our President appears to have compromised his promises away. Republicans have defied reason by bending to the will of corporate insurance giants. Joseph Lieberman has proven to be motivated by pure spite. But it’s time for us Democrats to grow up and look at what we do have. For the first time since FDR’s New Deal, we have a serious (albeit less than ideal) proposal to expand the reach of affordable health care coverage to millions of Americans. Unlike Quentin Tarantino’s blockbuster film, this would certainly not be a time to kill the bill. (more…)

I just got back from a talk by Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein sponsored by the GW Jewish Progressive Political Association. Klein’s main forte of late has been the health care debate, and he spoke both on that issue and its corollary — how cumbersome the U.S. Senate is.

I found Klein’s thoughts very insightful, especially as they related to what the final health bill will be sold as. There is a tremendous sense of frustration among liberal Democrats at the difficulty in putting through a bill to their liking, even with 60 Senate seats. What he warned against, though, was the urge among Democrats to demand a total victory the way Republicans seek the bill’s total defeat. This is Obama’s first major policy initiative, and if it was to fail it would be disastrous for him.

But failure isn’t certain. With Olympia Snowe’s backing, Democrats will probably be able to pass a deficit-neutral bill with Chuck Schumer’s creative “opt-out” compromise on the public option. And even though the new law wouldn’t guarantee insurance to everyone, it would probably hit in the range of 94%, according to recent estimates. Klein also pointed out that social welfare programs tend to grow overtime, not shrink; what might be an incomplete bill could be mended later.

Given the ridiculous number of structural obstacles to meaningful health care reform — “death panels,” town hall mobs, insurance industry lobbying, Republican filibuster threats, unions angry over excise taxes, liberal and conservative wings of the party fighting, five standing committees and two negotiating committees to get the bill through — we ought not to feel too badly about this fight.

A recent topic of discussion is the prospect that the GOP could re-take the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections. With today’s unfortunate report that the economy is still shedding jobs, and with the defeat of the public option in the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the health care bill, many Republicans no doubt believe they are on the offensive to a such a degree that they can take back the House. (more…)

“Stay in school, kids” is the latest postscript to the Communist Manifesto, if you are to believe the GOP uproar to the president’s address to the nation’s students yesterday. But in tonight’s address to the nation on health care, the fringe right made another appearance in the form of not just Joe “You Lie!” Wilson, but in many outbursts from various Republican congressmen:

Throughout the speech, Republican members of Congress repeatedly held up stacks of papers that appeared to represent ideas they had for the bill.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) held signs that read “What Bill?” and “What Plan?”

When Obama told the chamber that the “death panel” lie was, in fact, a lie, a Republican member said loudly enough to be heard in the press gallery, “Read the bill” — a common refrain at August’s angry town hall meetings.

When Obama told the chamber that he had “no interest in putting insurance companies out of business,” a Republican member responded with a loud, “Ha!”

Say what you will about members of Code Pink who interrupted speeches by President Bush over the years, but never did we see Democratic members of Congress pollute the discourse like this. Even I, an admitted cynic, did not expect to see this.