Left, Right & Center: Democrats in Control in DC

With the seating of Al Franken in the Senate and the Democrats' now-60 seat majority, we thought we'd take this opportunity to sort through the differences between Democratic factions as the Obama revolution gets underway. Can they rule? Can they overcome their divisions to create an agenda for change? We talk about topics in the news--health care and education--in the context of this overarching theme.

Comments

[katyann]

This presentation of the opinion of the "left of left" doesn't understand what health care reform is and actually thinks that the Massachusetts model is something enviable. I live in Massachusetts where the problems for the lower middle class increased with this model. The policies that were supposed to be available at affordable costs are simply not there for many people. Skeletal coverage is a macabre joke and does not fit the meaning of universal access to health care. The well-heeled listen to the figures of people who are "covered" and feel less guilty. They look no further to the impact of the Massachusetts "solution" on individuals. You have barely done your homework on this topic.

The two journalists here miss the point. Health care finance reform is not for making the health insurance industry behave. Real reform is single payer as a regulated trust like Medicare in which we 300+ million Americans share a single risk pool. Like all the other industrialized countries, we should never see someone go bankrupt because of a medical disaster.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html

[FreedomAgain]

This would be good except for Senators like Evan Bayh that run as democrat but vote as republican, and of course half or more of the democratic Congress have sold their soul to lobbyists as well and have no interest in serving America. At least there are a few democrats left that have compassion for American citizens, but it is not realistic to say we have a majority when we have so many fakes in there obstructing things for bribe money from lobbyists.

[IllinoisResident]

And they are doing such a fine job.

yea right