August recess was no day at the playground for legislators visiting their home districts. Main Street is looking worse each day. Folks back home are angry, and a vocal group has proved it in town halls. New Hampshire is no exception. White House control over the bill, and the legacy of Ted Kennedy could be the remedy.
The White House decision to take over health care shows that the administration is facing a bitter pill to swallow: if the bill dies, it renders Obama's first year a failure. With his political capital invested, the President can not afford to let this legislation be driven by the House, nor can he afford to wait. He must make his stand as Congress returns on Tuesday. The only alternative is to go with a moderate plan, get the Baucus six to push it through, and leave the House with no other bills.
At stake are some very real consequences: Has President Obama succeeded or failed in his first year? Will health insurance be extended to the uninsured, the essential crux of the legislation?
The "public option" has to be minimized and renamed; a spoon full of sugar, after all, helps the medicine go down. "Co-op" is too loaded a term; try "non-profit optional choice for those who have no insurance" instead. Even if restructuring the public option alienates some Democrats, gains public approval, and has the potential to bring Republicans over to the bill.
The bill that the White House desires must come out of the Senate Finance Committee, and it must be the Kennedy legacy bill that can pass with more than a party line vote. Otherwise, it's buyers remorse for all three branches, and Republicans will do a victory dance.
Amidst the lowest poll numbers yet, Obama is now showing the leadership and change he promised voters during the campaign. The priority cannot be whether House likes the plan that passes. The public is angrier at them than than they are at President Obama, so its now or never unless he wants to see his approval numbers drop lower and relive Hillary-care 1993. The new strategy may also save the pro-public option Democrats from defeat in 2010 as it did in 1994 when voters rejected Democratic control of all three bodies and handed Republicans a platform to run on.
President Obama is up against the House, and he knows it. This is the last chance for credit to go the Administration for finding the courage to take the issue back and lead for the people, not the fractured political pressure inside the beltway.
Health care is back on the table, and its in critical condition.