But his his argument in favor of passing the Senate health care bill simply rings hollow from a political perspective:
But won’t paying the ransom now encourage more hostage-taking in the future? Maybe. But the next big fight, over the future of the financial system, will be very different. If the usual suspects try to water down financial reform, I say call their bluff: there’s not much to lose, since a merely cosmetic reform, by creating a false sense of security, could well end up being worse than nothing.The next big fight will be different? Not my next big fight. Newsweek is already reporting that they don't expect President Obama to get within 100 feet of a gay rights proposal next year at all. And how about Climate Change? Sure, the administration says they're on board, now, but that's what they said on health care reform, at the beginning. What's to stop them from cutting the climate change baby in half, dropping a bunch of the necessary reforms and implementing just enough to slow, but not forestall, the eventual destruction of all life on earth? So we die in 300 years rather than 200, at least it's better than Bush would have done, no? How about immigration reform - let half the immigrants stay (again, better than Bush). And so on and so on.
I get that the wonks see benefit in this bill. But I see peril from a political perspective. Joe and I have been saying for a year now that something is rotten in Denmark - the White House just doesn't have the stomach for a fight, ever. And if we reward the bad (to put it lightly) behavior by Democrats on this legislation - the president refusing to ever get involved or take a position (just ask him which bill he prefers, House or Senate, and see what he says), thinking that conservative Dems who have been bought off by industry and conservative Republicans are going to negotiate in good faith, that caving to extortionists will make them go away, that giving up your most important demand at the beginning of the negotiations will convince the other guy to give up his - if we tell Democrats that it's okay, we'll forgive you this time, then we guarantee that it will happen again next time.
Joe and I have seen this behavior before - repeatedly, in fact, on gay rights issues. For many of you, what's happening on health care reform is new, and disturbing. For gay and lesbian Americans it's all too familiar. The Obama administration and Congress have screwed us on our issues ten times over in the past year, and it's always followed the same pattern that you're witnessing on a much larger level with health care reform. If you don't mind the White House and Congress gutting the Democrats' promises on immigration reform, climate change, civil rights, civil liberties, financial reform, Iraq and Afghanistan, then please do hold your nose and embrace this legislation. But remember this post the next time the President and Congress go soft - it won't be long.
