ObamaCare is America’s last chance for (Democratic) “reform”
[Posted by Karl]
The Politico* reports:
In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health-care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the “last chance” to pass comprehensive reform.
And the quotes from Vice Pres. Joe Biden and White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer seem to back that up.
NRO’s Jim Geraghty jokes on Twitter that “Today, Obama will tell Senate Democrats this is their last chance to pass legislation opposed by 61 percent of the American people.” At Commentary, Jennifer Rubin mocks the argument as evidence of Pres. Obama’s arrogance:
On one level, it’s jaw-dropping desperation when a White House stoops to making such a nonsensical argument. It suggests that Harry Reid has managed to drive the administration’s top priority into a ditch, and the White House is panicked. The Left is furious, the Senate looks like it’s made up of a bunch of Keystone Kops, and there’s still no bill to vote on. But it’s the arrogance that’s most striking. Of course other presidents will address health care, entitlements, jobs, and the rest. History does not begin or end with Him. But he seems to think it does.
However arrogant Obama may be, he may well have a point this time.
After all, the bipartisan, conventional wisdom is that there will be fewer Democrats in Congress in 2010 — and if they fail now, it is unlikely that Pres. Obama would return to the issue in a major way.
Moreover, the politics of the issue will not get any easier moving forward. In a recent conversation with my Dad, I noted in passing that seniors are the least supportive of ObamaCare of any age group — and that they tend to vote regularly. He wisely observed that there are more seniors every day. Seniors have a host of reasons for opposing ObamaCare (risk aversion, rationing, Medicare, etc.), and that population is set to explode as Boomers reach retirement age. Accordingly, while presidents have made runs at socializing medicine over the years, American demographics make it harder to achieve every day. With entitlement costs already set to explode, this may be the Democrats’ last chance at passing another one, as the downsides are only going to become more glaringly obvious in the years ahead.
*Self-link to honor Patterico’s boycott of The Politico.
–Karl
Your father is quite right…there are more old people every day. The old people are very well aware of what this bill means. They are going to be voting, and they have the time (those who are lucky enough to be able to tough it out and not be given the green or pink pill) to call and write their representatives. (not that it appears to be making much difference when our elected officials do not listen or care what their constiuents want)
I cannot wait until the blood bath next year for the Dims (and any repubs who vote for this bill). This president doesn’t care about anything other than himself, and the expansion of power. What a disgusting piece of garbage.
I don’t think these idiots have a clue about what is going to happen. NOT.A.CLUE. What a bunch of turds. I WILL TAKE MY COUNTRY BACK. Watch out, you whores in Congress.
Charlotte (dad663) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:06 ambtw, what is patterico’s problem with politico?
A.W. (e7d72e) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:24 amCharlotte, while Reid hopefully is in deep trouble, the Democrats are being run from Chicago and San Francisco, and the people calling those shots are not going to be thrown out of office for a while.
I actually doubt Obama will lose in 2012. he has time to pretend to be a moderate and let the masses swallow the lie. The democratic party in general made a huge mistake by letting Pelosi run their party, and Obama probably isn’t able to wrest legislative direction from her even if he wants to.
And let’s not forget that trillions of dollars are allocated for vague purposes. A lot of people are going to be thrown out of office straight onto a yacht. They didn’t want to live in the DC swamps forever.
Dustin (44f8cb) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:27 amJust give up, Karl. Shut up already. 😉
JD (7ee27c) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:29 amAW, it’s that ‘The College Politico’ thing, I imagine.
Maybe I’m wrong. Patterico has a good sense about who deserves to be treated how.
Dustin (44f8cb) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:29 amActually, there will be fewer Democrats in Congress in 2011. The current Congress still has a year to go (unfortunately).
Of course, the belief something has to happen this year shows the White House’s desperation in realizing nothing will happen in an election year.
Dave N. (5458ec) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:31 amPatterico calling for Politico Boycott
Dave N, Don’t remind me! These people have just gotten started, and there’s no getting around that. they will have to campaign hard next year, and that’s the only sure comfort, since they can’t be in DC while they are campaigning. I was shocked when we elected Obama and shocked when the nominated Mccain, and I just don’t have it in me to believe we’re going to have the kind of November success we reasonably ought to have.
Dustin (44f8cb) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:43 amDustin
ah forgot about that. i can respect that pov. i was worried there was an issue that went to trustworthiness.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 12/15/2009 @ 10:43 amI still like Rich Lowry’s metaphor. The Democrats are in the bank with their guns drawn. Why leave without the money ? They’re already in deep doo doo.
Mike K (2cf494) — 12/15/2009 @ 11:51 am“President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the “last chance” to pass comprehensive reform.”
Last chance because they have spent all the money on unneeded/unwanted “stuff”, paying off their cronies. I was going to continue, but it makes me so mad, I would just be ranting soon.
PatAZ (fb7107) — 12/15/2009 @ 11:55 amWhile most of the Senate and House leaders outside of Harry Reid are in safe seats or deep Blue States, or if they’re in the Senate aren’t up for re-election in 2012, the question for the Blue Dogs who are is whether or not they’re willing to sacrifice their seats for Barack and Nancy.
For those who were merely posing a Blue Dogs in Red States or Red-leaning congressional districts, the answer may be ‘yes’, if they decide they’d rather get the left’s pet bills passed now while the Dems have their big majorities. For those who actually believed what they campaigned on to get elected, or those who think they still have a chance to be re-elected with the proper voting record, it’s going to take a lot to convince them to sign-up for this turkey.
John (620750) — 12/15/2009 @ 12:03 pmmike k
its a good metaphor, but the logic is flawed. for instance jim webb had a decent chance at reelection, but if he votes for obamacare, then that’s probably the end of his career. there’s one. part of york’s strategist friend’s logic is that some dems are disposable. i don’t think the people they are talking about are disposable or are willing to go down for something that at best does little, at worst destroys the insurance industry in the middle of a recession.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 12/15/2009 @ 12:10 pmIts pretty hilarious that the core thing that Obama claimed as his key skill in the campaign has been shown to be non-existant.
He has no leadership skills at all much less the transcendent skills he and his supporters claimed last year.
Zilch.
SPQR (26be8b) — 12/15/2009 @ 12:36 pmSPQR, yes, this is kinda funny now that you mention it. He can’t even get a room full of democrats to agree on something basically held to be mandatory in that party. Post partisan? Post race?
I was a total Bush fanboy and thought he would be able to bring Texan bipartisanship to DC, but I was totally wrong about that (I guess Gore’s selfish destructive actions played a role).
I keep thinking that maybe Obama knew Health Care reform and Cap and Trade would have to occur before 2010, and Amnesty, civil rights expansions and business regulation could wait until after the GOP got some more power.
Dustin (44f8cb) — 12/15/2009 @ 12:41 pmhey, i never thought i would say it, but we can now officially praise burris. http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/burris-pushes-back/
nothing would be more hilarious than if obamacare fails because they can’t appease both the liberals and conservative dems at the same time. heheheheh.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 12/15/2009 @ 12:55 pmObamaCare has morphed from an attempt to help some of our fellow citizens into an test of the tent that houses the Democratic Party.
Like so many battle on Capitol Hill, the goals are often completely disassociated from those that this legislation is supposed to help.
The goal here is “single payer” where the payer isn’t you, at least if you can help it. Or as so many have talked, “the path to single payer.”
let’s get real, these politicians and the gaggle of pols behind them really don’t give a crap about anybody out there who needs help with their health care, especially when it doesn’t kick in for another few years.
Neo (7830e6) — 12/15/2009 @ 1:00 pmHe’s learned nothing from Clinton’s experience with HillaryCare – yes, he went in a different direction when he gave it to Congress to write the bill, but then he forgot that once you get rolled by your own party, you’re toast. Too many members have already stopped listening to him, since they realize that he never has their best interests at heart. It’s all about him, and when your leader’s this much of a narcissist, you have no choice sometimes but to ignore him in order to save your own hide.
Dmac (a964d5) — 12/15/2009 @ 1:03 pmWhat is really striking is the idea that we need to pass tomorrow a bill which mostly won’t go into effect until 2014!
That tells you a lot about what the current Dems expect the public to think of their wonderful bill. They don’t want to be around when it actually hits the fan.
Subotai (70e2e6) — 12/15/2009 @ 1:18 pmIronically, Clintoncare was probably far less destructive. It was bad for insurance companies but it wasn’t as damaging to Medicare and some other aspects of care. There are simple reforms that would do a lot to bend the cost curve. They don’t provide enough Democrat featherbed jobs, though. It’s a bit like teachers. If we would cut administrators by half in LA Unified schools, they could give teachers a good pay raise. They far outnumber teachers. I mean a pay raise of about 25%.
Mike K (2cf494) — 12/15/2009 @ 1:24 pmThe goal here is “single payer” where the payer isn’t you, at least if you can help it. Or as so many have talked, “the path to single payer.”
All the talk about “universal health care” has very little to do with actually reforming the costs of healthcare itself or reforming the insurance industry. It’s about forcing a third party to pay for the healthcare of individuals at little or no cost to the individuals themselves. It’s basically using immoral means to achieve supposedly moral ends.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 12/15/2009 @ 1:28 pmI wonder what she would have you do with the other 40 Senators who would have voted the same way on cloture ?
Neo (7830e6) — 12/15/2009 @ 1:28 pmHow many ways can you call somebody unhinged ?
Even if Lieberman were doing it all for spite, as so many Democrats seems to think, he would be getting a delicious revenge on Obama who was a big supporter of Lamont. Lamont is, of course, the classic limousine liberal as his grandfather was JP Morgan’s partner.
Mike K (2cf494) — 12/15/2009 @ 2:12 pmThe Dems really know how to influence those on the other side of the arguments, don’t they? First show Lieberman in blackface, then call him a traitor, and follow it all up with an internet plea for obnoxious and unknown individuals to start pressuring a charity to drop his wife from their fundraising activities. Yeah, that’ll get him to change his mind, surely.
Dmac (a964d5) — 12/15/2009 @ 7:09 pm