Monday, March 22, 2010

Repeal? Get Real!

Republican opponents of healthcare reform suffered a crushing defeat last night as the House passed, by a vote of 219-212, the most sweeping reform of the healthcare and health insurance industries. Yes, Americans will now have a new way of obtaining and maintaining coverage for their health-care, and the federal government will shave $130 billion from the budget deficit in the next 10 years and another $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years.

David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter and (true) conservative thinker, puts it plainly in his piece simply called "Waterloo":

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.


He piles on:

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.


Those Republicans shouting "Repeal" now are among the most nakedly ambitious politicians imaginable. The Tea Party movement is smarting and pretty much have nowhere to go on this issue. They'll likely move onto immigration reform as the next most obvious place to express their thinly-veiled racism. Neocon "thinkers" like Bill Kristol and Karl Rove will pretend that this was in fact a Republican victory, in an attempt to motivate their base to vote strong in November and take back the House and Senate, before reclaiming the White House in 2012.

But make no mistake: big political victories like this one -- and this one was huge -- have a tendency to motivate those who voted in support all over again. Obama's taking it to the streets again this spring and summer, congratulating those of us to stood with him, and reaching out to those in the middle who voted for him in 2008 to continue to vote with him in 2010. They will follow him, and will stand with him on immigration reform, financial reform, consumer protection, Afghanistan, and Israel.

I have a feeling, as pundit David Gergen said on CNN early this morning, that this year's mid-term elections will be very nasty indeed.

True that! And Sarah Palin will positively soil her Spanx with fear when she sees just how powerful this president truly is. That reality show is looking even better today, ain't it, Sarah?

1 comment:

Goog said...

You really should stop subliminizing your holiday wishlist in your blog. I got the message loud and clear, though. Your pre-owned Sarah Palin Spanx are on their way!