Enough already! Progressives, this all or nothing mentality is injurious to our nation and the uninsured. There are those that say President Obama needs to take an LBJ stance and twist arms to get a progressive Health Care Reform bill out of the Senate. Then they go and talk about FDR and how made some tough decisions during a crises and changed the national culture by moving forward with the "New Deal". However, its time to look at today's political climate and realize that if FDR was in office today...getting Social Security passed would be much more difficult today.
Back in 1934, FDR had a democratically controlled Congress. Democrats were in line with him...no one, not even moderates, were against his agenda. However, he called Congress into special session and made them pass 15 pieces of legislation during three months of being holed up in Congress. Secondly, Republicans were willing to work and put their name on the legislation by voting for it. In today's partisan environment, Republicans won't vote or consider Health Care Reform and conservative democrats have reservations about voting for the bill, despite thousands of uninsured in their districts and states.
Obama's Congress is nothing like FDR's and getting legislators to work for the countries best interest is hard to find. Only one Republican in the House voted for the bill. Thirty-nine Senators in the Senate, all of them Republican have sworn to vote "no". One Republican is thinking about it and about a handful of conservative Democrats are wavering against it--one has even declared that he may block the Senate legislation from being voted on.
Give President Lyndon Johnson credit for knowing one thing: delaying legislation and just letting it sit on a desk allows opposition to organize against it. He pushed and twisted legislators to get to quickly on the floor for a vote. Obama was aware of this bit of history and tried to get it through by setting deadlines--but unfortunately Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid didn't learn this lesson or take the President's deadline seriously enough to push it through. Thus, we got the town hall meeting "shout downs', the death panel arguments and millions of dollars spent on opposing advertising. The opposition was allowed to organize.
Due to false arguments and opposition organization, the legislation is watered down...it's not progressive enough and now one House Democrat has thrown the legislation into jeopardy.
However the consensus for the legislation is that, while it is not bold enough, it is something that will still be historic.
Progressives need to continue the fight but don't make it a "all or nothing" proposition. Why? Because this may be the last time Health Care Reform will get this close to passing both Houses. If it fails again, it will take two or three generations before our politicians take it up again. If it fails again, you will see moderate democrats become an extinct species and the partisanship fever will continue to get hotter and hotter.
Back in 1934, FDR had a democratically controlled Congress. Democrats were in line with him...no one, not even moderates, were against his agenda. However, he called Congress into special session and made them pass 15 pieces of legislation during three months of being holed up in Congress. Secondly, Republicans were willing to work and put their name on the legislation by voting for it. In today's partisan environment, Republicans won't vote or consider Health Care Reform and conservative democrats have reservations about voting for the bill, despite thousands of uninsured in their districts and states.
Obama's Congress is nothing like FDR's and getting legislators to work for the countries best interest is hard to find. Only one Republican in the House voted for the bill. Thirty-nine Senators in the Senate, all of them Republican have sworn to vote "no". One Republican is thinking about it and about a handful of conservative Democrats are wavering against it--one has even declared that he may block the Senate legislation from being voted on.
Give President Lyndon Johnson credit for knowing one thing: delaying legislation and just letting it sit on a desk allows opposition to organize against it. He pushed and twisted legislators to get to quickly on the floor for a vote. Obama was aware of this bit of history and tried to get it through by setting deadlines--but unfortunately Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid didn't learn this lesson or take the President's deadline seriously enough to push it through. Thus, we got the town hall meeting "shout downs', the death panel arguments and millions of dollars spent on opposing advertising. The opposition was allowed to organize.
Due to false arguments and opposition organization, the legislation is watered down...it's not progressive enough and now one House Democrat has thrown the legislation into jeopardy.
However the consensus for the legislation is that, while it is not bold enough, it is something that will still be historic.
Progressives need to continue the fight but don't make it a "all or nothing" proposition. Why? Because this may be the last time Health Care Reform will get this close to passing both Houses. If it fails again, it will take two or three generations before our politicians take it up again. If it fails again, you will see moderate democrats become an extinct species and the partisanship fever will continue to get hotter and hotter.
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