...on what course Obama and the Democrats should take in the wake of Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts, so here's mine: Full Speed Ahead. From a policy standpoint, if health care reform was a good idea on Monday, then surely it's still a good idea today. I would have Obama urge the House to pass the Senate bill and have it on his desk for signature ASAP. Get this thing done, already, and move on to something else!
From a political standpoint, passing health care reform only makes sense. If reform fails, the Republicans will claim they defeated a Government Takeover of Health Care or some such silliness and proclaim themselves heroes. Democrats, on the other hand, will be discouraged to lose in the eleventh hour to a nihilistic minority. And independents, understandably, will conclude that Obama and the Democrats can't get anything done.
If the bill is a good one (and it was as recently as Monday) and people still don't understand why, then the president should get out in the country and SELL it. Visit every purple district and tell people why it's good for America. As Margaret Thatcher would say, now is not the time to go wobbly.
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