Legal Commentary

Will Dems "Win" The Second Health Bill Debate?

By Big Tent Democrat

Ezra Klein writes:

Health-care reform isn't getting repealed this week. It's getting re-debated. The GOP's control of the House -- and thus of at least some of the agenda -- gives them a second opportunity to make their case against the bill. It also, however, puts the Republicans in a position Democrats will recognize immediately: They're behind a specific piece of health-care legislation with sweeping implications, some of which are popular, and many of which are not.

(Emphasis supplied.) I disagree. The Republicans are getting behind being AGAINST the health bill. Ezra imagines some debate where the Media talks about what it would be like without the health bill. Good luck with that. The fact is Obama and Democrats do not know how to win a policy debate. President Obama is well liked personally and his numbers are up after his very "Presidential" performance regarding the Tucson tragedy (especially in comparison to the GOP), but he has changed no one's mind on any issue in his Presidency. More . . .

Indeed, President Obama's political style really invites that which Ezra really fears, GOP revisions to the health bill:

In the end, repeal will pass the House -- likely tomorrow -- and quickly die in the Senate. Then comes the more interesting phase of the fight over health-care reform: The GOP's effort at revision. Republicans, who already know that repeal will fail, are preparing to begin the longer and more complex campaign to replace, rewrite, or simply undermine various parts of the bill. [. . .] That will allow them to focus their energies on the parts of the legislation that are tough for Democrats to defend, rather than letting the Democrats force them to focus on the parts of the legislation that are easy for Democrats to defend. But this strategy has its own dangers: As the least popular bits of the bill are either successfully preserved or somehow changed, more and more of the bill's opponents will lose their reason for fighting the legislation.

I'm curious why Ezra thinks this is a "danger" for Republicans. They fought against the bill. They make "improvements." They continue to rail against "Obamacare" while continuing to make it more to their (and their contributors') liking. Sounds like a political win-win for the GOP to me.

Of course Ezra's the guy who said passing the health bill was going to be a political winner for Dems.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 18, 2011 (boomark / email).