Health care reform isn't just taking down Martha Coakley, it's taking down gay rights and the rest of the progressive agenda

And to be more precise, it's not health care reform as an issue. It's the way the issue has been handled by Democrats. And I don't mean they haven't been bipartisan enough. From Kerry Eleveld:

[N]ow we find that the exclusive focus on health reform has disillusioned the public as well as demoralized the progressive base because its mandates are so weak – that is the cautionary tale of Coakley.

Wouldn’t it be ironic, if health reform, the issue many LGBT leaders said must pass before we pushed more fervently for equality, became the stumbling block to every other progressive agenda item in Obama’s first term (not to assume a second one).

I'd go even further. It's not health care reform per se, or even the way health care reform was handled. It's health care reform as metaphor writ large for how the Democrats approach leadership and legislating. Weakly.