Ivan Seeking said:
pull the plug on grandma, conjured accusations of socialism, false claims of lost benefits, classic scare tactics] the Democrats realized that it was time to be leaders.
It is a variant of socialism. It's government control of health insurance. What else would one call it? It's a version of single-payer. And whoever controls health insurance essentially controls the whole of healthcare to a degree - everything from doctors to hospitals to the pharmaceuticals industry to the medical device and equipment industry, etc...all get affected.
Republicans pointing out costs will skyrocket or freedom of choice will be curtailed, or even both, were not classic scare tactics, that was just pointing out things that will have to happen with such a program as Obamacare (and judging by the history of healthcare programs in America, likely will).
One of the biggest divisions within the Democratic party was the demand for a public option. When commentators cite the statistic of low support for health care reform, what they often leave out is that about half of those who want it repealed believe it didn't go far enough. So with this factored in, most Americans support basic effort. Only about 30 or 40% reject it in principle. [those stats should be about right]. Additionally, many Democratic Representatives came from Blue dog States that did not generally support the reforms.
Which I do not get, because the bill HAS a public option in it. It mandates you purchase health insurance, if you refuse to, then you pay a fine, and if you outright cannot afford it, then you are subsidized.
Even though many Representatives knew it would likely cost them the 2010 election, they fell on their swords for the sake of the country.
Maybe, some may also have been bought off in certain ways, such as being promised an ambassadorship or something.
They opted not to govern by survey. They chose to be leaders and make the tough decision - to do the right thing even if it was political suicide. You may recall the "Yes We Did!" yelp by one Dem Rep., just after reform had passed, when Obama talked about the personal sacrifices made for the country. In my book, those people are political heroes.
Doing the right thing for political suicide is when the financial system is about to collapse and the polls show the general public don't want the financial companies bailed out because they think it's politicians taking care of their Wall Street buddies and do not understand the ramifications if the system goes down; so despite public opinion, you bail the system out anyway.
Ramming through a completely experimental healthcare bill that no one really has any idea how it will work in practice, for completely ideological reasons, is not doing the right thing.
Had the Democrats done otherwise, they would been accused of governing by the polls, as Clinton was accused of doing.
If as President you want to do something, but the public doesn't want it, then no matter how "right" you think you are, you should not do it, the ONLY exception being if it is absolutely necessary to prevent collapse of the system or something.
President Obama gave speech after speech on healthcare and still couldn't sell it to the American people.
The reason he rammed it through in the end was not for the country, it was to save his Presidency, which he himself stated, that if healthcare failed to pass, it would destroy his Presidency - he'd become a lame-duck.
So even if it required the deem-and-pass method, the Democrats were going to push it through.
This unity can be attributed in part to Pelosi's leadership, as well as Obama's. Also, in the end, the support of [R] Snow and the two Independents in the Senate was critical. This is what killed the public option.
The public option is still there.
So we had balance within the Democratic party along with the three moderates. The Republicans were clearly employing a political tactic, which included endless abuse of the fillabuster, instead of participating in landmark legislation.
One cannot participate in landmark legislation if they completely disagree with it. So will the Democrats now participate in the "landmark legislation" to completely undo Obamacare? Will they at least participate to undo the individual mandate, while retaining certain other aspects of the healthcare bill?
Of course not, because the mandate, one of the main reasons Republicans could not agree to the healthcare bill, is also why the Democrats cannot agree to any Republican attempts at reform of Obamacare, because undoing the mandate also essentially undoes Obamacare.
It was their choice to bet that health care would be Obama's Waterloo [Steele]. It was their choice to fail in their duties. It was their choice to serve their party instead of the country.
The Republicans were serving their country, which is why Obamacare did not get a single Republican vote. If one thinks a piece of legislation is possibly the worst piece of legislation to be passed in history, they are thinking about the country in refusing to vote for it, and I applaud the Republicans for finally acting like conservatives for once.
