Over the health care cliff?
March 15th, 2010, 8:46 am
Posted by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer
Most of the players say that this is the week that the fate of ObamaCare will be determined, that Nancy Pelosi will find a way to bring the Senate bill to a vote in the House — after being reassured that the Senate has already made significant moves toward assembling the “reconciliation” bill. As we noted in an editorial, the stakes, in terms of the direction of the country even more toward a European-style welfare state, are pretty significant. And for those who really believe the answer is more governmentalization of health care the stakes are pretty high too, and even Jonathan Cohn at TNR, who has been rooting from the sidelines forever for Congress to pass the bill already, admits that as of this moment they don’t have the votes. He thinks a push from the outside could push it over the top, and notes that Obama has urged people in his speeches to “knock on doors. Talk to your neighbors. Pick up the phone. When you hear an argument by the water cooler and somebody is saying this or that about it, say no, no. no, hold on a second.”
Does anybody know anybody who is so enthusiastic about this mess of a proposal to knock on doors and call friends and acquaintances? Let me know if you do.
The argument is made that not passing a bill will create an aura of failure around the administration and the Democrats, hurting them much more than passing a bill with a bare majority in the face of public opinion. I would think that for moderate and conservative Democrats in districts taken by either Bush or McCain, the calculus is different. Those members, who are probably the key to assembling a majority, are probably thinking that they’re in some trouble either way considering the general anti-Democrat mood, but that helping to make sure no bill is passed will earn them more credit in their home districts than standing idly by while it passes, no matter how they themselves vote.
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