The Dangerous Option
The late push for the public option has Jonathan Cohn, a proponent of the measure himself, worried for the prospects of reform:
At this point, it’s going to take a herculean effort by President Obama and the leadership to secure fifty votes even for a modest reconciliation bill, one that merely fixes some of the more egregious flaws in the bill the Senate finally passed. Adding a public option–something more conservative Democrats never liked in the first place–will make that task a lot harder.
Keep in mind, too, that the prospects for a public option aren’t much brighter in the House. That chamber approved a public option in November, when it passed its version of health care reform. But that doesn’t mean it would do the same thing today. The Massachusetts election scared a lot of House members, too. And, like Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s toughest task will likely be corralling more conservative Democrats, most of whom never loved the public option in the first place.
But, as Ezra Klein noted today, by making the public option part of the conversation again “you’re also increasing internal dissension and adding unpredictability into a process that’s collapsed into chaos already.” If you think–as I do–that reform would constitute a monumental achievement, even without the public option, that’s a huge risk to take.
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In 2004, Republicans adopted a “we won so shut up and let us govern” attitude. It didn’t turn out so well for them and it’s not working so well for the Democrats this time around. At some point we will learn in America that our government is designed so that the majority cannot impose it’s absolute will on the minority.
I understand that Progressive’s are passionate about the Public Option… but they need to understand that not all of us are convinced that it’s a good idea. Shoving it down our throats isn’t going to go over any better than President Bush shoving a war down your throats. President Bush got the war that he believed was the right thing to do. And Democrats got the House, the Senate and the White House in return.
Want the Public Option? OK… but that will just give the Republicans the Senate, the House and probably the White House back. Remember… a majority of the people voted for President Obama, but a whole lot of us voted for the other guy.
February 19, 2010 at 12:42 pmHave something to add?