In the wake of Scott Brown's 'stunning' (cough!) election victory in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on Tuesday, and the hand-wringing by most people in the Democratic Party since then (and by hand-wringing, I mean OHMIGODTHESKYISFALLINGWEREALLGONNADIIIIIEEEEE), here are a few suggestions/observations about how to achieve solid health care reform.
1. Be a populist. The President took a great first step toward this last week when he proposed banking reform laws. Tap into American anger (which knows no party) against large corporations. Insurance companies make record profits by denying care, kicking people off insurance for semi-arbitrary (and definitely capricious) reasons when they need it most. In other words, right when they get sick.
2. Break the health care bill up. So we won't have a public option. The 'public option' was dead when he called it a public option in the campaign (the lesson: use better language. American Option. Medicare for all. Whatever. People can't rally around policy-speak).
Breaking the health care bill up will force Republicans to show their hands. Don't tell me we can't get 60 votes for a bill that forbids insurance companies from imposing lifetime caps on coverage. Don't tell me we can't get 60 votes on eliminating recission (where insurance companies kick people off coverage because of mistakes on their application, such as not telling an insurance company you went to a dermatologist for acne or some other minor thing).
Force Republicans to show whose side they're on: the side of the people or the side of big corporations. And do it now, get them on record so when they're in their districts campaigning later this year, they have to answer for their individual votes.
Listen to Howard Fineman. Get back in touch with the people who put you in office. Play basketball in Indiana. Do town hall meetings. Tap back into the energy, enthusiasm and momentum from 2008. It's still there.
One last thing on Scott Brown/Martha Coakley. I don't want to discount anger at the way things are going (especially the economy), but the health care bill isn't the only reason Brown won. In fact, it's not even the main reason. The reason Brown won was because his campaign outworked Coakley's. Plain. And. Simple. Elections are won on the ground, by volunteers, activists and voters. Jeff Blodgett, who has forgotten more about campaigns than I'll ever know, sums it up better than I ever could.
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Re: #2, I think the Republicans have already shown their hands. I won't tell you what they will say "NO!" on -- they will tell us all, soon enough. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so. The Republican Party is looking no further ahead than November, and they think taking a consistent anti-Obama stance is the key to victory.
ReplyDeleteA bit of advise to the President from me: Up till now, you have very carefully avaoided repeating Bill Clinton's mistakes. Now learn from his successes, such as they were. I expect you can do even better, with or without 60 votes in the Senate.