Legal Commentary

History's Judgment

By Big Tent Democrat

Matt Yglesias writes:

Now that it’s done, Barack Obama will go down in history as one of America’s finest presidents. [. . . F]undamentally, he’s reshaped the policy landscape in a way that no progressive politician has done in decades.

I guess anyone can call anything progressive, but I think E.J. Dionne is right that this is essentially a GOP (from 20 years ago) bill. I hope Yglesias is right and his thesis will be tested - Obama's (and Yglesias' and the rest of the Village Dems') vision is now law. My view aligns with Atrios':

Both on substance and politics, better to pass it than not. It does not do the important work of sowing the seeds of the insurance industry's destruction, leaving the skimmers in place, and only takes baby steps towards moving them to the regulated public utility model. It also doesn't get rid of their anti-trust exemption, leaving the effective monopolies in place. This leaves us open to continued abuses by the industry and fails to do the most important cost-cutting measure, cutting out the paper pushers who serve no useful purpose in the economy. But there is good in the bill, too, and one has to be a bit Hopey that over time demands by the public will make the bad and unpopular stuff less bad and less unpopular.

It is my view that the key to health insurance reform is public insurance. This bill does not forward public insurance. Thus, in my view, the health bills are not effective progressive reform. Hopefully I am wrong and Obama and the Village Dems are right. We'll find out for sure.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).