Democrats Should Push Health Care Reform Through

I'm not sure why President Barack Obama and the Democrats are acting like the sky has fallen and that the health care bill is dead after Martha Coakley lost the Massachusetts Senate race to Republican Scott Brown.

Democrats, despite losing their filibuster-proof 60 vote super majority, have enough options open to them to pass the bill without, as some commentators have speculated, alienating the general public.

According to the New York Times:

House leaders signaled that they had effectively ruled out the idea of adopting the Senate bill, which would send it directly to the president for his signature. Yet close advisers to the president said such a move was still on the table. Mr. Brown's victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday denies Democrats the 60th vote that they need to surmount filibusters and advance a revised health measure. Senate leaders said they would not risk antagonizing voters by trying to rush a bill through before Mr. Brown could be sworn in, and Mr. Obama agreed. "People in Massachusetts spoke," the president told ABC. "He's got to be part of that process."

Brown can still be a part of the process after the Senate bill is adopted by the House. Paul Waldman of The American Prospect writes:

Obama would sign it, and the infrastructure of reform would be in place. Then they could attempt to correct some of the Senate bill's weaknesses in the reconciliation process, which only requires 51 votes (though it does limit which parts of the bill can be addressed).

These days, some Republicans seem more interested in planning for the midterm and presidential election as opposed to enacting desperately needed health care reform. Other Western countries can't believe that we don't have a system in place already. People who go to work every day are without proper coverage and health care costs are hurting the economy by dragging some businesses under.
Seven presidents have tried to adopt health care reform. This may be the last best chance for another generation.Can you imagine what this country would look like if politicians had buckled and not passed Medicare or social security? Our country is a better place for the elderly because of those two programs, even though they, like health care reform, are far from perfect.

As Kevin Drum of Mother Jones points out, the attitude of Democrats is similar to the 2000 recount. Instead of fighting for a full recount effort and being eager to at least examine the public's concerns, Democrats were more concerned with maintaining a sense of decorum and a façade for the world. I'm not sure Republicans would have taken the same tact had the shoe been on the other foot.

Health Care Reform

Drum writes:

It's time for House liberals, labor unions, lefty activists, Blue Dogs, Democratic pro-lifers, and fence-sitting centrists to all face reality: The only way to pass healthcare reform of any kind is for the House to pass the Senate bill and then work to improve it later during the budget reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate. That's it. That's the choice.

Although Massachusetts voters may have had health care on their minds in voting for Brown, what role did local issues, such as property taxes, play in the vote? How about Coakley's reported lackadaisical campaigning and her failure to get her message directly to the voters? Did she effectively articulate to voters why she's in favor of the health care bill?

As Waldman points out using a crude numbers game: If Brown wins, Democratic senators supporting reform will represent 193 million Americans (63 percent), while Republicans opposing reform will represent 113 million (37 percent). It would be hard to argue that that small change means Democrats no longer have a right to enact their agenda.

If Democrats back down, they lose anyway. You can feel Republicans trying to use this momentum to knock down a raft of issues that deserve examination and change in this country, such as regulating the financial markets, our energy consumption and global warming.

African Americans voted for progressive change. As consistent supporters of the Democratic Party, we should demand that Democrats stop over thinking the issue and push forward with health care reform.