Shifting The Burden

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_12/021646.php

SHIFTING THE BURDEN.... One of the Republican talking points in the days leading up to the Senate vote on health care reform was, "Can you believe this bill is passing without bipartisan support?" As it turns out, one of the new White House talking points, in the wake of the vote, is, "Can you believe this bill passed without bipartisan support?"

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer had an item the other day tries to turn one of the principal GOP arguments on its head.

Today's Republican talking point of the day is that the historic health reform bill passed today represents the first major piece of social legislation to be passed without a single vote from across the aisle.

Well that may be true. But it's not a commentary on this bill. It's a commentary on the Republican Party, whose leaders made a determination that they were going to put party over progress. That's never happened before when the nation took on big challenges.

Right. GOP lawmakers would have Americans believe that Republicans' refusal to engage in good-faith negotiations, and stubborn opposition to the same ideas they'd already endorsed, reflects poorly on Democrats. Pfeiffer's point is that this argument has it backwards -- for generations, members of both parties were willing to step up and work on major reform initiatives like this with at least some sense of cooperation.

We've never had a situation in which a major political party simply refused to consider a reform effort of this magnitude. In 2009, the Republican Party, in its entirety, decided to sit on the sidelines, heckling those doing the real work of government.

Pfeiffer added, "The sad truth is that Congressional Republican leaders decided early on that their best move was to 'delay, define, and derail' reform -- not to find common ground on a bill both parties could support. They made clear their hopes that health insurance reform would be President Obama's 'Waterloo' and that it would 'break him' politically. In the process, they lost sight of the fact that this was never about President Obama -- it was about the families struggling to keep up with skyrocketing premiums; the small businesses forced to choose covering employees and staying afloat; the 15,000 Americans who lost insurance every day this year. {Thursday 's} vote was a victory for them."

Greg Sargent endorsed the approach. "{T}he die has been cast, and the best route for Dems is to emphasize the fact that the health care reform bill is theirs alone," Greg noted. "Medicare, Social Security, the Clean Air Act, and many other major reforms all passed with bipartisan support. This is the first major reform in American history to be unanimously opposed by a major party. No need to run from this."

Sounds like good advice to me.

—Steve Benen

[Cary]

1. Republicans could have made the bill better

Instead they relegated themselves to the back bench. Effectively the debate was by and between Democrats. Republicans should be made to pay an even further political price for this breach of their duties to their constituents, but are their constituents smart enough to know this?

[babylonsister]

2. I've thought for a long time that rethugs' constituents just aren't all

that important to them. I see no evidence otherwise, at all.

[Cary]

5. Objectivist ideology

There is this odd idea about wealthy people being intrinsically better than everyone else and if you're suffering then it's just tough shit for you. If your constituents were beyond the looking glass would you worry about them?

[Bolo Boffin]

3. This is good.

This is true.

And if the Republicans wanted to contribute, they had 12 years to do it.

The Republicans have doubled down on this not working. If it does work, then they've lost all credibility.

[Cary]

6. Oh, they will spin it some way or another

Nothing matters when you don't actually have to make any sense.

[Cha]

4. Thanks babylonsister and Steve Benen

Unanimously opposed by assholes just bc they don't want Pres Obama to succeed.

[Old Codger]

7. The Dems

Own the bill, sink or swim it is their bill, has very little if anything at all to do with Obama, although it probably would have been a stronger bill with more positive input from him. The main thing is that if it succeeds they will get the credit if it fails or becomes a major boondoggle they will take the blame BUT at least they tried. That is more than can be said for the other side, no way for the rethugs to jump in and make any claims since the record is clear....

[ibegurpard]

8. they didn't have to lift a finger

we enshrined corporate insurance gatekeepers for healthcare without any help from them at all...which is exactly what the lobbyists who pay both parties' bills wanted.