Regardless of the rhetoric and spin from both sides of the debate, the bottom line on the passage of the health care bill was that the political necessity of passing the bill outweighed every other consideration for the Democrats, and the necessity of defeating the bill outweighed every other consideration for the Republicans, and once that reality sank in on the holdout Dems, it was an irresistable force. The Democrats may never again hold as large a majority in either house as they have at the moment, so this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take this to a final floor vote and win, and there isn’t a soul in Washington DC who doesn’t know that. For the 34 Democrats who did vote no, at the end of the day their personal political survival was more in doubt that the political survival of Barack Obama, and Pelosi’s leadership group had the numbers, so those who needed the out were given it.
Do not kid yourself, precious little was accomplished in terms of real health care reform by passing this legislation. And for all the talk of “it’s just a beginning, we’ll do more later”, nothing of substance in this matter will be brought before Congress for decades to come. This is it. This is what we got, and it’s too fucking little to make any difference in the grand scheme of things. But the Republicans made sure it was a 100% all-out war, and in the end there was no choice but to return fire. And now there can be no quarter given by either side; every legislative battle of consequence from this time forward will have to be fought to the death, and every outcome will be zero-sum. Though I think the Republicans are kidding themselves to believe that they will flip Congress in the mid-term elections, they will probably come out ahead in the short-term calculus and thus the parity of the warring factions will level off again, to the detriment of every person who lives in the United States.
To the Democrats, I say do not rejoice even a single moment of this victory. Your win comes at the sacrifice of any genuine reform. Millions will continue to be unable to afford even basic health care, and will be permanently welded to the sides of the rapacious insurance companies by a mandate that failed to include a public option. Your cowardice and cupidity throughout the year that this legislation has ground through Congress means far more than your acquiescence to the President now. You did win the battle, but you have certainly lost the war.
To the Republicans, all that can be said is that you do not deserve to serve your country in any way shape or form. “Deplorable” does not begin to describe the conduct of your leadership or your rank and file. Nothing you say or do should ever be taken seriously by anyone ever again, and if you had the slightest bit of human decency you would resign your offices, beg for absolution, and remove yourselves from the company of decent human beings forever. There is not a brush big enough to tar each and every one of you with the shame you richly deserve. You have managed not only to doom millions of people’s lives, you have also brought the wrecking ball through the house of democratic government so completely that it might not be possible to ever govern this nation through the legislative process again. As Bob Dylan sang, is your money that good?
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Well said, sir. Sigh.
yeah, somehow this doesn’t feel like a slippery slope in favor of the common person, does it? amen, brian.