Obama could have pushed a public option through if he’d approached it differently – perhaps tackled this legislation right out of the gate (last spring when he still had the wind at his back), and if he showed more leadership about what he defined as legitimate health care reform. For a popular President with a public mandate to just punt to Congress on his most important legislative initiative is just weak.

And the Blue Dogs will hopefully pay with tough primaries in the next elections.

Makes you lose a bit of faith that our government can still serve the people.

I don’t know what kind of health care reform will come out of this session, but I strongly suspect it won’t be much. There is, however a silver lining behind this very dark cloud. I am reminded of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Don’t be embarrassed if you’ve never heard of it, there really isn’t a hell of a lot to remember about it; a mere pittance, really – a scrap of leftovers tossed out to “American Negros” (in the parlance of the age) in order to appease them. But it made the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – the one we remember – all the more easier seven years later.

We’ll live to fight another day.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan