So it's clear that a large percentage of Kossacks agree with Howard Dean and Markos Moulitsas that Senate Democrats should kill the current version of the Senate Health Care Reform bill. (Disclosure: I agree with Nate Silver and Ezra Klein that we should move this bill towards conference committee).
So, I have a question for you. What is your "Plan B" after you kill the bill?
So far, all the Plan B's I've seen here and elsewhere have been annoyingly vague. For example:
"Obama should insist on a higher standard!"
"Obama should act like LBJ and twist arms!"
With all due respect, those suggestions are meaningless. You are basically saying that Obama should wave a magic LBJ wand that will instantaneously change Lieberman and Ben Nelson's mind (as well as perhaps Blanche Lincoln's and Mary Landrieu's). It doesn't work that way. Not in the Senate. (The comparison to the war-funding bill, where there is some anecdotal evidence of the White House twisting progressives' arms, is inapposite, since that battle was in the House where members are much more dependent on institutional support).
What's your Plan B for changing Lieberman and Nelson's mind? Let's hear it. Or is your Plan B letting Health Care Reform die and crossing your fingers that the Senate will end over 200 years of history and get rid of the filibuster in January 2011?
Update [2009-12-16 12:48:37 by pontificator]: The best Plan B I've heard so far is "reconciliation." I'm for reconciliation if it would work. But I'm not convinced we even get to 50 votes. For example, based on what I've read, I think we lose:
Lieberman
Nelson (NE)
Landrieu
Lincoln
Conrad
Bayh
Baucus
Byrd (for HCR, against using reconciliation)
Feingold (for HCR, against using reconciliation)
That's already down to 51, a margin of error of two. And front pager David Waldman, who knows more about reconciliation than any of us, has not been an enthusiastic proponent in light of the fact that the Senate Parliamentarian could wreak havoc on the bill, among other difficulties.
That said, I'm all for reconciliation if it works.