Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) gets the message right:
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) put all the blame on Coakley. "The big, profound message? Don't run a bad campaign. That's what I take from it," she said. "For me, it's that we have got to run strong, aggressive, clear-message campaigns. I tell you what I worry about, that the conventional wisdom will be that Democrats have to be less populist and less progressive. I think it's exactly the opposite of that."
Not enough health care polls distinguish reasons for opposition to the bill, she said. "I think a lot of people think it doesn't go far enough to really resolve their problems and they're worried that they still wouldn't be able to afford it or it still wouldn't provide for their health care needs," she said. "We need to identify who's been against change. People are frustrated because change hasn't come up enough. And against change are the insurance companies, the big banks and their spokespeople, who have been the Republicans in the Congress...We're going to absolutely move ahead with our agenda, unapologetically and as boldly as we can."
Will the rest of the Dem leadership get it?
They can still pull this out of the nosedive they're headed into. All they have to do is scrap the monstrosity of a healthcare bill that the GOP and the right-wing ConservaDems have trapped them into and pass immediate Medicare buy-in for those aged 55-64 by simple majority vote via reconciliation, with the age restriction dropping to 45, then 35, then Medicare for All within the decade.
Drop the negotiations over the Exchange, the excise tax, the subsidies, and everything else. Put it to a vote and force the Republicans go on record voting against it, if they dare. Let everyone see who the enemies of true health care reform really are.
Time for drastic remedies. Are the Dems up to embracing real change?