"The question is no longer whether government should do it; it's whether it's doing it well enough."

[BlooInBloo]

A remarkably rational blog post. Never read him before - no idea what his background is. Found him while reading Sully.

http://enikrising.blogspot.com/2010/03/this-is-what-change-looks-like.html

"So while I don't think tonight will have an extraordinary effect on elections in the near or distant future, I do think this will have a profound impact on public policy. Even if this bill seems watered-down to you, realize that from this point forward, the federal government is responsible for making sure people have health insurance. The question is no longer whether government should do it; it's whether it's doing it well enough. I heard somewhere that the two major votes tonight were symbolic ordered that way -- first they passed health reform, then they passed reconciliation to improve it. This is the biggest fundamental change in the relationship between Washington and the American people since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House.

How did it happen? Speaker Pelosi deserves a lot of credit for pushing this thing through at a time when many Democratic leaders seemed to be getting weak-kneed after Scott Brown's victory. Whatever you think of her politically or personally, she really showed her legislative tactical skills here. Of course, President Obama deserves credit for making this a priority, for learning the lessons of the Clinton administration, and for putting together a complex and clever strategy for making this happen. Of course, we shouldn't ignore the fact that Democrats had very large and ideologically coherent majorities in both houses. (Democrats may wish to say a quiet thanks to President Bush, whose profound and longstanding unpopularity helped bring about this condition.)

So Democratic leaders should enjoy a night of celebration and go get totally stupaked. And then, on to the next thing."