Deeper Blue

We find ourselves, now, in one of those pivotal moments. How so? Simply this: in just about 10 months there is going to be an election, in which several seats in both the House and the Senate are going to go up for grabs; many incumbents have already informed us that they will not be seeking re-election, signaling what we had already figured out on our own, that this is not a good time to be one of those who was in power while Congress was very visibly not solving peoples’ problems. At the same time, the chief piece of legislation not being passed is the enormously high-profile healthcare reform bill, upon which a great many peoples’ political lives have been wagered. How does this fall out?

The short version is this: if the Democratic majority can manage to get comprehensive healthcare reform passed in time for this year’s campaign season, it will provide enough of a boost to cement if not increase their majority for the next several cycles, as well as provide a solid foundation for an Obama win in 2012. Politically, this terrifies the Republican Party which, despite smalls wins in several state races, can see for itself a future as marginalized regional party. Thus the spur for their new favorite tactic, “Just Say NO!”

Recently rumors have begun to surface of a particular memo being circulated in the chambers of certain Democrats which essentially states their intention to see the bill run through the reconciliation process, a path suggested by Rep. Clyburn of South Carolina. Big surprise, considering the proximity of the aforementioned elections. Also we are drawing closer to Fearless Leader’s “healthcare summit” where in he proposes to meet specifically with lawmakers from both right and left in order to hash out some sort of legislation. This is a politically savvy move, as well as being good policy; you provide a very visible process by which you gather as much input from all sides as you can (and let us be completely fair, the Republicans have presented a large number of very good ideas) while simultaneously forcing the opposition to come to the table and be seen negotiating. At the very least, if they should refuse then they are very obviously not fulfilling their obligations as representatives of their electorates; refusing to participate would essentially give the left carte blanch to write whatever they like and ram it through.

Speaking purely for myself, I’m getting thoroughly disgusted with the entire enterprise. On the one hand, the Democrats have spent so much time and effort in attempting to be inclusive that they have thus-far failed to act on the mandate given them in 2008; on the other, the Republicans are so obstinate as to be positively childish. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m all for lengthy and deliberate debate but we’ve passed the point of reason. The procedural obstructionism and misinformation from the right and the hand-wringing and concession-giving on the left have yielded nothing thus far but frustration and more gridlock.