Well that sucked.
Anyways, my pundit credentials aren’t at their best right now, but I still feel pretty confident that I can state in no uncertain terms that if the response to “the Republicans gaining a 41-59 majority” in the Senate is for Democrats to run off into the hills and cower, then they are going to get stomped in November, and they will deserve it.
First of all, we have a pretty good example of what happens: 1994. If you spend 18 months working on health care and then fail to get it, well, you lose. A lot. And the chance for reform dissipates until 15 or 20 years down the road. The public may be torn on a lot of issues but there’s one thing that NEVER sells well and that’s a majority party that utterly fails to accomplish its goals.
Second, they’ve already all voted for it. It’s not like they can escape attacks by saying “Oh, I am totally in thrall of the political winds of the moment and I didn’t realize when I voted for it that some Republican in Massachusetts was going to get 52 percent of the vote.” If you thought Kerry got skewered for “I voted for it before I voted against it” then just WAIT.
Third, you get elected to accomplish things. You don’t get elected to get elected. Yes, you run some risks by pushing it through now. But life is risk, and political life more so. If you get sent to Washington and go this far (literally weeks away from the biggest progressive legislation in my lifetime) and then give up, then your constituency is going to give up on you – because you’ve revealed yourself to be craven, spineless, and useless.
Finally: this matters. It matters a lot. This is not some symbolic bill that people are asking you to take a hit for. This is a bill that will radically improve the lives of a LOT of people. You think it’s not good enough? Fine. Pass it, and then make it better. You think you’ll get in trouble back home if you vote for it now. Deal with it. Your duty is to the people, not to yourself. One month ago, you knew what that entailed. One stupid election doesn’t change that.
Or, how about just listening to Paul Waldman:
“Republicans would like people to think that because their candidate won one race in one state, the Democratic majorities have somehow ceased to exist. Well they haven’t. The need for health care reform is no less great than it was yesterday, and we believe no less strongly in the agenda that got us elected. Our opponents won’t like it – they’d rather we surrender to them, and make believe that they’re running things, like they were during the Bush years.
Well tough luck. Come November, the voters can judge us on what we’ve accomplished and what we haven’t, and judged our opponents on what they say they’d like to do. Until then, we’re going to keep working.”
Or Machiavelli for that matter:
No government should ever imagine that it can always adopt a safe course; rather, it should regard all possible courses of action as risky. This is the way things are: whenever one tries to escape one danger one runs into another. Prudence consists in being able to assess the nature of a particular threat and in accepting the lesser evil.
That’s about the size of it.
I’ve been an apologist for Obama a lot in the past couple years. I think he’s got his head on right, and has done a good job of navigating difficult waters. I’ve appreciated his calm, his reserve, and his collectedness. But a big part of that was my belief that he saw those as tactics that were important for the pursuit of something larger.
If he doesn’t come out big and strong for continuing to push on health care reform, a lot of that good will is going to dissipate and I’ll start to listen to those who call him craven and weak.
If ever there was a time for a big speech, for the drawing of lines in the sand, for bashing heads and telling the Democratic caucus in clear and stark terms “you will vote for this” that time has come. You don’t have to like it. But you need to do your duty.
well said.
hear, hear