Health care “reform” is all politics now
December 16th, 2009 | by Brian Schwartz |Grace-Marie Turner cites a couple of good analysis in her National Review blog post:
The health overhaul debate is no longer about policy; it’s all politics now. And the tone at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue is becoming increasingly desperate.
Politico’s chief political correspondent says it’s pretty much now or never. No other president will try it. From Byron York, chief political correspondant for the Washington Examiner:
…[A Democratic strategist] compared congressional Democrats with robbers who have passed the point of no return in deciding to hold up a bank. Whatever they do, they’re guilty of something. ‘They’re in the bank, they’ve got their guns out. They can run outside with no money, or they can stick it out, go through the gunfight, and get away with the money.’
Turner also quotes Ezra Klein:
The Obama administration wants to use the State of the Union as a turning point. Health-care reform would be the shining first year accomplishment, allowing the president to begin the election-year pivot to jobs and the economy and the deficit.
Turner concludes:
… with vulnerable senators being reminded back home how unpopular this bill really is, it’s still not a sure thing. There is a lot more wrong with this bill than whether it contains a public option or a Medicare expansion. Centralized control is built into the fabric of the legislation. The American people understand that, which is why its unpopularity grows by the day.
Read the whole post: It’s All Politics Now.
tags: HR 3590, ObamaCare, politics of health care
