July 20, 2009

7/20: The Cost Of Delay

As the debate over health care reform heats up, we're experiencing a serious case of deja vu. First of all, we have a group of centrist senators "urging delay in consideration of health care reform" until more GOP senators are on board -- just like centrist Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE) did back in '93. Next, we have GOP strategist William Kristol urging opponents of health care reform to "kill" the bill rather than seek a compromise -- just like he did back in '93. Liberal bloggers have seen this movie before and don't like the ending, so they're blasting the centrist senators who are trying to slow down health care reform. In their view, "delay is simply a plan to kill reform." Lefty bloggers are also warning moderate Dems that they'll be punished in the '10 midterms if they fail to pass health care reform this year. Matthew Yglesias writes:

"In 1993, we had a new president elected on a promise of providing access to high-quality affordable health care to all Americans. In 1994, that promise went down in flames. The result of that failure was not only substantively bad, but politically disastrous for Democrats. [...I]t's curious that many centrist Democrats -- particular those now eager to delay action on a bill and give special interests and the right more time to kill it -- don't seem to remember this."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, Morrissey, Hewitt, Riehl) are excited that the new Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates that Pres. Obama's approval rating on health care is dropping.
• Conservative bloggers (Morrissey, Klein, Gateway Pundit) are criticizing the Obama admin. for delaying the release of the annual midsummer budget update.
• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, Erickson, Hawkins) are criticizing the American Conservative Union and its chairman, David Keene, following Politico's report that the organization tried to sell its support for money.

HEALTH CARE REFORM: The Gang Of Six

Liberal bloggers are blasting the six centrist senators who wrote a letter "urging delay in consideration of health care reform." Lefty bloggers believe that delaying a vote on a health care bill will only decrease the odds of its passage:

• The New York Times' Paul Krugman: "If the Gang of Six really does kill reform, remember their names; they will bear the responsibility for vast, unnecessary suffering over the years to come."
• Obsidian Wings' publius: "Many things annoy me about the calls to 'slow down' on health care coverage. But what most annoys me is the idea that we should wait for a 'bipartisan' result, as the latest letter from the 'Gang of Moderates Protecting Really Rich People' suggests. In the abstract, these requests sound reasonable. But these requests assume that Republicans are interested in passing real reform -- which they're not. They've never made any serious efforts -- institutionally speaking -- to enact reform, and there's exactly zero reason to think that they will. They're slowing things down to kill reform -- and the Gang is facilitating them."
• Firedoglake's Swopa: "[A] historical echo of the Senate faux-centrists' letter is August 1994, when uber-wanker Sen. Bob Kerrey made a similarly ostentatious plea for delay and supposed moderation, insisting that although he wanted reform, he didn't want the debate to be 'covered in partisan spit.' In fact, though, Kerrey's feigned desire for bipartisanship provided the Republicans with the political cover needed to kill the 1994 reform effort -- and that's clearly the model that the current 'gang of six' is trying to duplicate."

Many liberal bloggers are pointing out that some of the senators who are currently expressing concern about the cost of health care reform had no problem voting for George W. Bush's expensive tax cuts:

• TPM's David Kurtz: "Of the six senators begging President Obama to slow down health care reform, four of them -- Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Susan Collins (R-ME) -- voted for those huge Bush tax cuts. Their votes were cast on May 26, 2001. Bush signed the tax cuts into law on June 7, 2001. Here we are in mid-July, eight years later, struggling to get health care reform passed by the end of the year. So whatever these four foot-draggers are saying about why they want health care reform slowed down (and Nelson, for one, was all over the place yesterday warning against 'rushing into this'), it's not really about wanting to be more deliberative or avoid ballooning the deficit. All you have to do is look back to 2001. Their records speak for themselves."
• Think Progress' Yglesias: "When you see a moderate Democrat who didn't mind voting for the Bush tax cuts -- Ben Nelson or [MT Sen.] Max Baucus say -- now worrying that the country doesn't have the money to make health care affordable, then you really need to wonder where their priorities are."

Many liberal bloggers (Kleiman, Klein, Yglesias, Benen, Atrios) are warning centrist Dems that they'll be punished at the polls if they fail to pass meaningful health care reform this year.

HEALTH CARE REFORM II: Drawing A Line In The Sand?

Liberal bloggers are pleased with the recent noises that the Obama admin. has been making with regard to health care reform. First of all, lefty bloggers are happy that Obama declared that "any plan" he signs "must include" a public insurance option:

• Firedoglake's slinkerwink: "Bravo, Mr. President. Now that is presidential leadership that we've been waiting for."
• digby: "[T]his is a step in the right direction. Up until now [Obama] has only expressed preferences and has not said that certain things must be included in a bill he would sign. It's helpful for keeping Dems on track if nothing else."
• Atrios: "Obama says no public option is a dealbeaker. While I don't especially care about the deficit fetish, it seems he might be turning a bit of jiu jitsu back on the Blue Dogs by making it clear that a plan with a public option will of course be cheaper. We'll see where we go from here, but good noises this morning."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "These weekly addresses are written pretty carefully -- it's not just the president riffing or speaking extemporaneously during a media interview -- and it seems pretty clear that 'any plan' that reaches the president's desk 'must include' an exchange with consumer options, and those choices need to include a public option. The president didn't include an explicit veto threat, but it's my understanding that 'any plan' and 'must include' are phrases meant to serve as a step forward on White House policy. [...] Obama, in other words, is pushing back. When one might expect him to start walking back expectations, he's playing a little hardball. Good."

Liberal bloggers are also pleased that OMB dir. Peter Orszag declared that some congressmen "are advocating delay just as a desperation move to try to kill [health reform]":

• TPM's Josh Marshall: "I'm glad to see Peter Orszag at least hinted at the key point in the current tug of war over the health care overhaul. Capitol Hill is now divided between those pushing for fundamental health care reform and those working to scuttle it. Only the people in the latter category know that that's not politically palatable position. So those pushing to prevent action are advocating 'delay', which they know will make legislative action impossible. Getting this truth in advertising on the table is probably the key hurdle for the reformers this week."
• Yglesias: "Orszag was kind enough not to drag House Blue Dogs or the Senate's 'Gang of Six' into this critique. Still, it is what it is. For 2009, the key Republican Party priority is to kill health care reform. For July of 2009, the key Republican Party tactical gambit is to advance the cause of killing health care reform by pushing for delays. And reality doesn’t suddenly change when the party labels flip. Democrats who are spending July of 2009 pushing for delay in health care reform are joining in a tactical gambit whose purpose is to advance the cause of killing health care reform."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Celebrating Cronkite While Ignoring What He Did

Salon's Glenn Greenwald:

"Tellingly, [Walter Cronkite's] most celebrated and significant moment -- Greg Mitchell says 'this broadcast would help save many thousands of lives, U.S. and Vietnamese, perhaps even a million' -- was when he stood up and announced that Americans shouldn't trust the statements being made about the war by the U.S. Government and military, and that the specific claims they were making were almost certainly false. In other words, Cronkite's best moment was when he did exactly that which the modern journalist today insists they must not ever do -- directly contradict claims from government and military officials and suggest that such claims should not be believed. These days, our leading media outlets won't even use words that are disapproved of by the Government.

Despite that, media stars will spend ample time flamboyantly commemorating Cronkite's death as though he reflects well on what they do (though probably not nearly as much time as they spent dwelling on the death of Tim Russert, whose sycophantic servitude to Beltway power and 'accommodating head waiter'-like, mindless stenography did indeed represent quite accurately what today's media stars actually do). In fact, within Cronkite's most important moments one finds the essence of journalism that today's modern media stars not only fail to exhibit, but explicitly disclaim as their responsibility."

LEST WE FORGET: God Orders Sanford To Stop Putting Words In His Mouth

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"One day after embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford claimed that God was trying to make him a better person, the Almighty held a rare press conference to demand that Sanford 'stop putting words in My mouth.'

For the usually publicity-shy King of the Universe, the press conference held at the Chicago O'Hare Airport Marriott signaled a sharp break with tradition. But appearing before the press in His trademark flowing robes and white beard, and carrying what appeared to be a lightning bolt, God said that He decided to convene the extraordinary press briefing because 'I had to set the record straight about this.'

'At no point did I say that I was trying to make Mark Sanford a better person,' the Almighty told reporters. 'And the only time that bastard has prayed to Me was last month, when his exact words were, "Please don't let Jenny find out where I really am."'"

Posted by Ian Faerstein at July 20, 2009 01:01 PM