Over the weekend the administration floated the trial balloon that they were ready to pass health care "reform" on a party line vote using the reconciliation (no debate) procedures. The President himself accused Republicans of being solely focused on defeating Him personally, and simply using health care as an excuse. Hello America, welcome to Chicago.
One thing the President didn't learn on the schoolyards. If you want to be a bully, you better be prepared to fight, and to win. The President might want to blame Republicans, but actually the Republicans have really been on the sidelines in this fight. This is a grass roots rebellion of the people. And the rebellion will go to the polls in November of 2010 and turn the Democrats out. The best news for the Democrats is that the Republicans have not been able to find a voice to capitalize on the public's anger. As many observers have noted, this anger is about health care, but it is also about bailouts--and not just the banks (rich bankers are always a good target) but also mortgages, cars, unions, and many other programs. As the middle class watches the deficit balloon, they know that they are not getting any bailouts. And they are smart enough to know that there will be a bill for all of this and it is going to become due in the future. So the President can keep promising no taxes for anyone earning less than $250,000 per year (ignoring the individual mandate and employer mandate for health care), but the public simply doesn't believe him.
The Democrats seem to think that the public ire will blow over by November 2010, and that something else will be on the top of the public's mind. Well a week is a long time in politics so a year is difficult to judge. However, on this issue, the Dems have miscalculated. There will be constant reminders of the implications for health care reform. These reminders will simply fuel renewed public outrage at Washington.
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