I opened my email today to be greeted by several new messages from President Obama and Democrats running for re-election, who wanted to share their joy and self-congratulations with me over their unprecedented success in passing real healthcare reform in the Senate.
As if I haven't been paying attention for the past eleven months and watching the sorry excuse for Democracy taking place in Washington DC. Maybe they think if they put just the right amount of spin on this giveaway to the insurance companies masquerading as healthcare reform, I might forget that the only compromises made have been from progressives on universal coverage, cost controls, a woman's right to choose and prescription drugs.
Perhaps they think if they have a pretty bill signing ceremony in the Rose Garden, I'll be so dazzled by the pens being passed out to the smiling Democrats standing behind the president, I'll forget that it was the Democrats, not the Republicans who gutted real reform out of this bill. It was the Democrats not the Republicans who extorted giant give-aways to their states in order to keep them from completely derailing the process. The state of California may not be able to give Medicaid to its citizens, but thanks to Ben Nelson's holding the healthcare bill hostage, Nebraska will not have to ever worry about Medicaid payments again.
It's clear that the president and congressional representatives think that the ugly, corrupt and broken process we just witnessed can be papered over by emails and Sunday appearances spinning the spectacle as a giant victory for democracy in general and Democrats in particular. They seem to actually believe that we will not only give them credit for allowing themselves to be bought by the insurance industry, and bullied by Joe Lieberman, we'll show our gratitude by contributing donations to their upcoming campaigns.
Good luck with that. Since the Democrats have made it clear that progressives are dispensable when it comes to crafting policy, I can only assume that we're equally dispensable when it comes to money, phone banking and precinct walking on behalf of their campaigns.