On Monday, Jon Stewart asked the same question he’s been asking quite frequently in recent days: why is it that George W. Bush with 50 Republican votes in the Senate can do pretty much whatever he wants, but the Democrats with 60 votes (a majority Republicans haven’t seen since the 1920′s) seem completely incapable of getting anything done? Speaking as a moderate liberal, it’s heartbreaking.
Yes, the Massachusetts vote sends a strong signal. A large swath of the American people are displeased with how things are going these days. That being said, if we let healthcare reform die now, it’ll be another 15 years before there’s even another possible opening. We haven’t come this far to let a nude Cosmo model derail the whole thing.
The Village Voice ran a biting headline today:Scott Brown Wins Mass. Race, Giving GOP 41-59 Majority in the Senate
That headline is so true it hurts. Badly. It raises extreme doubts about the Democrats’ ability to govern. For my conservative friends, I can’t express how much it hurts to have a party that you agree with on policy proposals but are constantly frustrated by when it comes time to actually put those proposals into law. The GOP line is that Barack Obama is "too liberal", but it’s not like he hasn’t done anything that he didn’t campaign on and win in a sweep. I still support his style of pragmatic government, but with an incompetent majority and an amoral minority bent on his destruction, I wonder just how, exactly, we can progress from here.
We all know that the Democrats have a communication problem. When they’re talking about "bending the cost curve" while the opposition is accusing them of fascism, socialism, and death panels, it’s no surprise that their message failed to resonate. In the face of such shameless, baldfaced, dishonest talking points from the Republicans, it’s no surprise that sober discussion of which tax policy would best support the abolition of policy denial based on pre-existing conditions and the individual mandate failed to catch the public interest.
Needless to say, I’m infuriated. I’m positively infuriated. It seems that many Democrats are getting skittish and thinking that voting against the bill at this point will save them, come November, which is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. If healthcare doesn’t pass now (by which I mean the House passing the Senate bill, however imperfect), not only will conservatives still line up to slaughter them, but liberals of both the moderate and progressive persuasion will be so demoralized that their chances will, in fact, be lessened even further. And they’d deserve it.
It’s time for them to get their act together.
