Nate Silver writes that the White House's move, in signaling yesterday that it is going to drop the public option from health care reform, was a wise, necessary and inevitable move politically. I think Nate may be right, but that hardly exonerates the White House from charges of gross negligence in handling the health care issue. First Nate:
If [the White House is] hedging a bit now [on the public option], it's probably because they're hoping to temper the reaction some in the blogopshere. I don't blame them for wanting to do so. And I don't blame the blogosphere for being angry -- the White House did not provide much in the way of leadership on this issue. But that doesn't mean it isn't the right time for the White House to (at least mostly) cut bait. There's likely going to have to be some sort of "regrouping" moment in September for health care to pass -- some sense of momentum that the White House can sustain for two, three, four weeks. If you'd waited until then to table the public option, such a moment would be less likely. There also probably has to be some effort to sell the public on the virutes of the plan as is -- and if the Administration can't convince the liberal blogopshere of that over the next 2-4 weeks, they almost certainly can't hope to do so to the general public.Okay, he's not horribly wrong. But let me explain. Of course the White House is talking about dropping the public option. As Nate points out, it increasingly seems that not enough Senators are willing to vote for it. The question, of course, is why aren't enough Senators willing to vote for it? The answer, as Nate points out, is because the White House failed to lead on the health care issue and now the issue is a big fat mess.
Perhaps an allegory might help.
Chapter 1: Arack takes you for a ride.And he's right. It is the wise, necessary, and inevitable choice. But let's not forget how you got into this mess in the first place.
It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the world is your oyster. Everything is going great in your life, and in fact, you're happier than you've been in eight years. Your new friend Arack Boama calls and invites you to take a ride in his big fancy new car. Things quickly go bad as, for some reason, while approaching a busy intersection, your friend Arack thinks it would be a good idea to close his eyes and try to navigate the intersection blind. Inevitably, your car crashes and you're all badly injured. The doctors tell you that they have to amputate both your legs, lest the gangrene that has set in kill you. You're understandably quite upset, not the least of which with your friend Arack. Arack, confused, looks at you and says: Hey, don't blame me - the experts all agree that losing your legs is the only way to save you.
Stay tuned for more upcoming chapters in the story of Arack and his new car....
Chapter 2: Arack invites his gay friends to take a ride in his new car. (Actually, this was the foreword to the book.)
Chapter 3: Arack invita a sus nuevos amigos latinos a dar una vuelta en su coche.
Chapter 4: Arack is surprised when nobody wants to ride in his car any more.
