Did you know that the Democratic health care overhaul could become law?

Did you know that the replacement of Senator Kennedy with a Republican, which destroyed the Demcratic super-majority, did not kill health care?

No? Then what, you ask, did?

A President who is running from his mandate.

President Obama was elected as an agent of change, “Change we can believe in,” if I remember the catch-phrase correctly. Obama swore to change the culture of Washington, swore to uphold the peoples’ will, swore to get down to business, swore he would get things done.

And for most of that time he has shrewdly played Mr. Inside within the body politic, expertly working Congressional committees to propel the legislation forward. At the same time he has kept up the appearance of Mr. Outside with the populace, venting his anger, presumably shared with The People, over bank bonuses and other examples of “unfairness.”

And he has bailed out the auto companies, saving thousands of jobs, and he has implemented a stimulus plan, saving more jobs while investing in forward reaching policies.

All good stuff.

But we all sense that Health Care is the Great White of this administration. Bag it and you are a hero; fail and you are an empty suit. It’s that stark and that simple.

Obama himself has implored us to understand that the budget cannot be balanced in future years without health care reform, without “bending the cost curve.” He has warned us that we could be the next who cannot afford premiums; who can be denied care because of a loophole in our policy; who can be bankrupted by catastrophic illness. He has laid out the reasons that health insurance should - must - be available to all, regardless of ability to pay. He has made it clear that these changes are absolutely necessary.

There is little dispute.

There is only an opposition party which intends to live up to its name: They intend to oppose anything that can be seen as a victory for this President. It will be interesting to see how willing they are, in an election year, to assist him in his current efforts at bipartisanship. To the extent that they believe they are better served in the coming election by continuing to weaken the President, they will refuse this offer. I expect that they by and large will do just that.

So where does that leave Mr. Change? Pleading for little boys to act like grownups?

This just in: He still has secure majorities in both houses.

No, an omnibus health care bill cannot pass without 60 votes. But budget reconciliations pass with a simple majority, and those bills can and always do contain amendments, which also require only a simple majority.

So, any Democratic Senator can propose an amendment to any budget bill and can get it approved by a majority vote. Now that it’s a part of the bill, it can be passed into law with only a simple majority.

Some call this an “end-around”, and this is presumably why Obama has as yet not thrown his weight behind it. On the other hand, when the minority party has chosen a path of pure obstruction, who is committing the end-around?

At this moment, the country has expressed its determination that both houses of congress as well as the Presidency are to be controlled by Democrats. This means that the country, at this moment, prefers Democratic policies to Republican policies. This means that the country, at this moment, wants Democratic bills to become law.

Once this majority has done what it can, the voters will render approval or disapproval.

So, what is this President so afraid of? Is he afraid that Republicans will say even worse things about him? Psst: They’re going to attack him no matter what he does, and why should he be in any way scared off by the prospect that his political enemies will treat him with hostility?

Is he afraid that voters will see this as a power play and reject Democrats at the polls come November? Then he is selling short his own persuasive powers, because how difficult can it be to explain to the people that:

(a) You put me in charge to make decisions, not to be constantly thrown off course;
(b) You put Democrats in charge of both houses;
(c) Majorities in both houses passed these bills;
(d) These bills are good for the country, and here’s why.

If he can’t do that, then not only is he unqualified to be President, he doesn’t even measure up to the potential he showed on the campaign trail to inspire with his words.

Unless Obama is trying to win a “Least Effective President” lifetime achievement award, and unless he wants to codify the Republican playbook by handing them the win without even putting up a fight, and unless he wants to see the causes in which he believes so deeply, and the people these policies are supposed to help, wither away from lack of support…

Then here is the message:

LEAD, Mr. President.

Just lead.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Current Events, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.