Over at PrairieStateBlue http://www.prairiestateblue.com a question was raised about just how much the Dems would suffer if a Health Care bill was defeated this year.
Given the determination to water the bill down into meaninglessness on the part of the "Blue Dogs", I would have to say that the Dems's chances in 2010 hinge very little on this bill. I think I'll have to revise this position. If a bill passes, it looks like it may very well be worse that useless.
Read this article in BusinessWeek:
http://www.businessweek.com/...
So, the insurance companies (like the investment firms) have seen to it that the solution to the disaster they have wrought has them standing to gain mightily, and subsidized by the taxpayers! Are the Dems really this bereft of imagination and sense of mission?
How could this have happened?
Well, on page 4 of this article is a perfect illustration of a morally gutted human being, Tom Daschle:
"...He advised UnitedHealth in 2007 and 2008 and resumed that role this year. Daschle personally advocates a government-run competitor to private insurers. But he sells his expertise to UnitedHealth, which opposes any such public insurance plan. Among the services Daschle offers are tips on the personalities and policy proclivities of members of Congress he has known for decades..."
Tom Daschle advocates for one thing, but whores for the opposite,
And right there is why the overwhelming victory of the Dems in 2008 feels so hollow for many of us.
My god. The Repubs have nothing, absolutely nothing to offer except excuses to vent racist rage.
The Dems have everything on their side - except the vision and the courage to act coherently. Their vision is blurred by the $$ they have convinced themselves is necessary to keep their seats - thereby listening to the donors, and not the voters. The cowardice is from the fear that the $$$ spigot ever gets turned off. And they bullshit themselves into some contorted realpolitik philosophy where they maintain the delusion of integrity.
All I know is that more people will be worse off next fall - the lay-offs are only slowing, not over, more people are longer-term unemployed, and those who are re-hired will most likely be at a drop in pay. They will be angry. They could be more forgiving if they see their congressperson fighting for them rather than appeasing big $$. But the Dems have an utter revulsion to taking a stand, stroking "their precious" power, afraid that using it in the service of traditional Democratic causes (not to mention the good of their constituents), will dull its luster. How wonderful that they are getting the phone calls from all those important industry groups! Please don't let that shine diminish...
Those on the right will just continue to rant - and the Repubs have a knack for propping up erzatz "populists".
If we have mandates forced on us without a very strong public option, and some path to a getting the profit out of primary healthcare altogether, I will be angry enough to vote against anyone who went along.
Healthcare "reform" that pleases UnitedHealtch fails, it won't be Mr. Obama's Waterloo. But if the Dems can't hold firm on some meaningful line, then its success may very well be.