Game On

Okay, folks, we progressives got what we wanted. A comprehensive health care reform bill with a reasonably strong public option will be going to the floor as part of leadership bills in both the House and the Senate. We don't yet know whether we will get the best version of the public option in the House bill, and the Senate version is not as strong as progressives have been pushing for. But strengthening the form of the public option can be negotiated over in conference committee, once we get there.

For now, we can thank Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi for their gutsy leadership, and fight like hungry dogs to win the floor fight and deliver on this hope. In the coming weeks we will have an all-hands-on-deck, all out public war with the insurance industry over whether we finally pass comprehensive health care reform or once again fall short at the bitter end after coming so far.

Here's where things are as we head into the floor fight:

1. White House staffers confirmed for me this afternoon that they are backing Harry Reid's decision "100 percent." Now that's not to say they aren't a little nervous about it. I suspect that there are still some feelings by some people working in that building that progressives should have given up and rolled over, and let them cut a deal with Olympia Snowe on her trigger-written-never-to-trigger. That would have been easier than sweating what will undoubtedly be a very tough battle to get all 60 Democrats to go along with the rest of the party. But us irritating progressive folk got in the way of doing that, and now Obama knows it's time to stand and deliver. I believe my friends at the White House when they say they will do an all-out fight for this bill. They know that starting down this path, and not being able to pull it off, would be a huge embarrassment and destroy all the momentum we've built by making it this far. They are all-in, and know how much is at stake. Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina are famous for twisting arms and doing everything in their power to get the votes that are needed, and now is their time to deliver.

2. The entire progressive movement has to go all-in supporting an up or down vote on health care reform. We should try to strengthen this bill with an amendment strategy on the floor, and we should be prepared to fight for a strong, tough negotiation strategy in conference committee. But first, we should be putting every ounce of work, dollars, and muscle we can to convince all the Democrats in the Senate to support Reid on the cloture vote in the Senate. The White House and Reid are on the line to deliver, but so are we. This is a history- making fight, one of those huge moments in American history, and if we win, this progressive movement will be written about in the history books the way the big change movements of the 1960s, 1930s, 1900s, and 1860s are. This is our time to deliver, too.

3. Senate Democrats who are reluctant to support this need to be clear: there are plenty of things none of us like in this big, sprawling bill. Personally, I think the idea that states could opt out of the public option is a tragedy, and I will fight for a better bill in conference committee. There are plenty of other provisions I don't love as well. But to step on history, to stop the entire rest of the Democratic party from making history because you don't like one provision in a bill, is fundamentally wrong. Go ahead and vote against it on an up or down vote, but do not stop this incredibly important, incredibly historic bill with a filibuster. And as a loyal Democrat who wants all Democrats to win, I want you waverers to be very clear about the political consequences. There is a huge political upside to supporting Reid on cloture, and an even bigger downside to not doing so. I don't speak for the entire progressive movement at all, but I have spent my life working in it, and have a pretty good sense of it, and I will tell you this: this is of truly massive importance to progressives. If you think this is just another issue, you are dead wrong. You will be helping yourself an enormous amount with progressives by letting this vote happen, and letting the Democratic party and the president get a huge win. It would be harder to raise money for anyone running a primary against you and easier to get our help in any tough general election you might face. On the other hand, if you screw us on this issue, you are opening yourself up for enormous political problems. The odds of serious primaries, with a ton of funding, go up dramatically, just as the odds of ever getting help in a tough general election fight go steeply down. The likelihood of people and organizations trying to block anything politically you are trying to get for your state go up exponentially, from judges you are trying to get appointed to highway money you are trying to get. Look, I am not trying to make threats here at all, I am just a lowly consultant. What I am suggesting is that everyone in the progressive movement is going to have very, very long memories about this highest of high priorities for us.

This is the fight of our lives, and after all the preliminaries, we have made it to the finals. Reid and Pelosi have delivered. The White House is ready to roll. Now let's get this done.

Comments

[lightningbolt]

Let's get this health care reform done already. We've been arguing about it for months and meanwhile the economy is collapsing and soldiers are dying. We need to move on to our other problems quickly.

[Bardmess]

Thank you for your timely and important push. It's time to stick together and get it done. It is still amazing to me that we even have to fight for what is so obviously right. Why would anyone want to protect the private health insurance industry? Really! What have they done for us; I mean besides extortion and murder...?

[blueken]

The atmosphere in Wasington reeks of hypocracy. The champions of freedom are terrified of states and individuals having the freedom to choose between the private sector and the public sector. Who wins when people have a real choice? The American people. Who loses? The health care industrial complex. I guess it's time to pick a side. The Republicans have chosen. Now let's see how the Democrats choose. This is really larger than health care. This is about our government and who it serves. Make no mistake either way, there will be consequences and suffering, but in my opion, we will at last be on the right track.

[Inquisitr]

To get to conference sure do all that.

But once in conference if it's not the real midcare +5%, available to everyone not just people who don't have health insurance.­.

If all of that isn't in the bill every single progressive should vote against it. If Obama think we won't tank it if he goes to far to the right and betrays his campaign pledges he's insane.

I'll vote against any Dem who voted for a PO that doesn't meet the fully robust version.

[JoAnnCr]

Mike, I agree with you that the Progressives need to fight. But let's remember that the President and the Dems started out by compromising away Single Payer before the game even began.

Those Republicans are smart and took full advantage of our weak beginning. Once the negotiating began, we had to give up more because we were already compromised.

I say we keep the big guns out for all that we want until the very end.

We need to demand:

1. A public option for everyone including those with employer based insurance and those who can afford private insurance, not just those who are poor and uninsured

2. A plan that gives us the entire reform in 2010 so that 44,000 per year don't have to die and countless numbers go bankrupt while you dither

3. The ability to negotiate the price down for prescription drugs

4. Or better yet, a single payer plan for all

5. And what's this opt-out provision?!?

[Bardmess]

Single payer would've been nice, but...
do you really believe that this is a "free country" ?

Ask the Blue Dogs and their Republican dog whisperers why we have to fight so hard for what is so obviously right and needed. Unfortunately, our Constitution is not as great as the claims. We have this Senate and it's unequal representation. We have lobbies. We have campaign finance issues. We have elected Senators (especially) who owe their jobs to the health insurance industry, not to their constituents. Then we have Murdoch's propaganda machine, just in case the constituents wise up. People in other civilized nations pity us. We need to fight and hard, and not underestimate the forces lined up against anyone who might need medical attention someday.

[joedee1969]

It is hard for all of us to trust them with health care when we see what they did with the swine flu vaccines. Read this link:

http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/10/swine-flu-what-to-do/

[Bardmess]

Where do you get your health insurance? Mine is getting too expensive and I'm 61 years old. I need an answer now. Tell me what private health insurance industry is going to do for me? or for the 44,000 who died because they had no insurance?

[JDM73]

I understand that it's verboten to talk about this in anything other than academic terms right now, but what are people who live in red states going to do? Are we so afraid to criticize Democrats for their lack of testicular fortitude that we can't admit an opt-out public option is anything but a victory for millions of Americans?
There is absolutely no reason that we can't enact real health care reform (i.e., health care for every single American citizen, with no opt-outs, triggers, or co-ops) in this country. There are many reasons, however, that we *won't*.

[Emmy2]

Don't you think it's pretty weird that so many people are crowing "we won", rather than scratching their heads and asking how this "miracle" happened so suddenly. It's like they never heard the phrase "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is". A crippled public option does not lead to universal access, but it apparently leads to bragging rights, which appears to be the real goal at this point. Meanwhile, I'm sticking with my backup plan, down here in Texas: just don't get sick.

[Bardmess]

Very good plan, but don't forget part 2; if you do get sick.... R.I.P.

[JDM73]

A lot of people do seem determined to celebrate prematurely, don't they?

[Carl Caroli]

Red states, much like what happened with the stimulus, will not opt out. Any legislature prhibiting the people in their state from affordable insurance will be voted out.

[Tammy Payne]

It is definitely go time on this one. And you're right about this being a huge priority..­. and not just for progressive democrats. I'm an independent and it's very important to me, too. This was the first election I ever got so personally involved in. I donated when I could, but found that talking with anyone who would listen was where I felt I made the real difference. Thanks for your voice and insight.

[yakmeat]

"Okay, folks, we progressives got what we wanted. "

I thought Single Payer went off the table before the fight even started.

[egal]

Um, PRESUMABLY, what progressives are seeking is improvement in healthcare­...if the goal isn't to help more people get better care, we're just playing politics and forgetting the underlying purpose of politics, to best support the society and the people in it.

[island-in-alabama]

The authoritarians and their corporate funding and media have certainly been riled up. It's about time for the Democratic party to get its base fired up by showing they'll actually fight and win on behalf of the main street Americans