Well as we know, Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius went out and said that the public option was "not the essential element". Therefore the consensus is that we're thrown under the bus, been betrayed, slapped in the face, and well it's pretty much over. Nothing has been written yet but hey, it's done. We failed, they failed. Time to pick up our ball and go home. No sense in playing with these meanies anymore.
That's the sense I get out of the liberal blogosphere today, anyway. First off, I fail to see why anyone seems shocked that the public option was negotiable. Obama has made it his modus operandi to negotiate everything that he wants, even if it makes things into a watered-down mess (e.g. the stimulus package, which we now know was too little), in order to get something to show for. But of course, he has to deal with the political reality that--as Bush and Cheney may have wished for themselves--a dictator and is subject to the whims of Congress, even if the majority of them happen to have the same party affiliation and the rest are collectively the party of No. Now you can debate whether or not he should be doing more to get what he wants or what we need, and we all can make a very good case for our ends of those arguments. You can debate that he should have taken a firmer position on health care--or any number of issues--if for no other reason than to have a tangible goal. In fact, I myself am in the camp that he dropped the ball early on, and between that, the party of No, a complicit media, and enough asshole Blue Dogs to ruin everything, we're in a tight position. You can even take a side on what I like to call the search for the holy grail of across-the-aisle-agreement, or the "bipartisanship fetish" as I like to call it myself. Believe me, he is not without the slightest bit of fault. However, do you not think that it may be just a wee bit unfair to say that it's all his fault and to attribute the failures so deeply without proof (e.g. he's throwing us under the bus)? Maybe he's truly uncommitted to reform. On the other hand, maybe he is too committed to the extent that he'll take what he can get, even if the final version of the bill absolutely sucks, yielding what if any negotiating power he has. I don't mind calling him out on his failures, but I see it counter-constructive and almost dangerous to take them to some of the conclusions I have seen.
Now that we established his blame, let's see what else we got. We have such bastions of the Democratic cause such as Kent Conrad and Max Baucus, amongst others in the Senate (though others are in the House, they're not with disproportionate power), who seemingly are doing anything in their power to take out the Public Option or anything else meaningful. To be fair they have yet to say they will flat out help filibuster such a bill if it doesn't suit their every whim, at least not yet anyway but Baucus seems to be more than willing to test such waters. Leaving the President out of it since we already went there, we can look to intra-party leadership for some blame; for example, Harry Reid being absolutely worthless in getting the party to fall in line on what is undoubtedly going to be in the top 5 issues voters will be considering in 2010 on whether or not to keep their super majority in both houses of Congress, or anyone in the DSCC or DNC. I think there should be a huge threat to some of these senators that if any Democrat works to filibuster HCR, they will be penalized heavily in funding their re-election campaigns. Not much else they can do, but since these Blue Dogs are the most in need for campaign money, the point will be made quite firmly.
Now as to our "Lose all hope, all ye who enter these parts" mentality, frankly I'm kind of sick of it. Yes we're disappointed, yet we're not getting everything we wanted, yes life is not ideal. Believe me, I think we over anyone else have the right to feel that way for so long. Well let me ask you this then: if it's all over, if we're eternally fucked, then why bother? Why are you still here at Daily Kos? Why do you still work for progressive causes? Why do you even care what happens in our political sphere? I mean, if we're supposed to pack our bags and call it a day permanently, then why don't I see a mass defection to, say, the Green Party, or a plethora of GBCW diaries (applicable here mostly, granted)? If we're so fucked and hopeless, then what's the point?
Hmm...could it be that we're NOT irrevocably fucked, nor are we hopeless? Could it be that we have an imperfect President that for all his short-comings--and frankly there are many, if for no other reason he's a human and not the "messiah" figure wingnuts like to think we feel of him with no sense of irony--actually kinda cares for once about what we stand for, and that as irritating as our progress or lack thereof has been, in 7 months we're much closer to health care reform amongst other things than we have ever been during the Clinton years? That as much as we're not going to get all that we want--and only about half if we're lucky--we know that if the Ds were changed to Rs and vice versa we would be quite content and not miserable because this debate would never even happen in the first place?
Or how about the fact that for all our pissing and moaning about Obama saying the Public Option is optional and a worthless few senators, we somehow forget about something known as the House of Represenatives. Do you know that we have a coalition that is willing to vote down any bill without a public option in there, or at least something that is a reasonable and suitable alternative (if one exists, and I shall go against the stream here and propose that one may in fact actually exist, whether it does is debatable of course)? I mean for all the talk that it's over, did it ever occur to you that we don't even have a bill yet to vote on? We still got time people, and we may lose ground relative to where we are now, but we may gain ground too. Or how about the fact that we ARE putting pressure on our representatives in both houses, and yes they are positioning themselves to stand up to us, but that means our efforts are WORKING, not failing. Do you think assholes like Baucus would get defensive, or any other Dems on his behalf if not their own, if they didn't think we meant business? Or how about the fact that HCR is STILL in the news even with the August recess, when else did a high profile topic in politics get significant news time when Congress was not in session? Or how about that Obama is going out there, in all those Blue Dog states, in all those town halls at about one a day, trying to sell HCR of some sort to the people? Or that everyone with a half of brain knows how important this is to the Democrats to pass something that we're almost guaranteed SOME reform of any kind, even if it's not optimal? Look I am for the public option greatly, and frankly I'd rather some form of universal health care but I think we as a nation are too stupid for some reasons to support it as a whole (same reason we still have the death penalty and a military that costs us a third or more of our entire budget). I think the public option should be non-negotiable, even if solely for negotiation, if that makes sense. But I AM willing to hear out the alternatives. I won't necessarily support them, but reality kind of dictates that we try for what we can get, and if we are to get any meaningful reform--defined by the results, not our desires--I will personally support it, with or without the things I desire most in it. This doesn't make me a DINO or an apologist or whatever you want to call it; this makes me a human, one who has similar views, but different approaches. If that makes me unwelcome here, I am sorry to hear that. I think I am not alone though, and would rather this not play out as the primary wars part deux. But these are my views and mine alone, and I still fight for the public option until we cannot.
Now for all you apocalypse types, [and I am not referring to those who have not given up but are surely frustrated and probably tired,] I dare you to say you would be less happy with a McCain presidency. I triple dare it, because in your heart-of-hearts you know it's true. With him in office we have no one to be disappointed in (except maybe a rubber stamp senate but I'm sure we could muster 2/3 of them to filibuster the worst of the worst crap). We wouldn't have anyone to be particularly pissed at. Hell with McPalin we may possibly--albeit unlikely--have found ourselves somewhat pleasantly surprised, as since we'd expect zero out of him, whatever bones we got thrown would be praised left and right. I don't really care if you were his largest supporter during the primaries and general election, or if you preferred Clinton/Edwards/other [if you really care, for the record I did prefer Edwards at first but I came on board in late April], or if you didn't even vote for Obama in November. Just the idea that you are using our collective frustrations on important matters and the inertia of our leaders to your personal advantage, as if to prove yourself right, is unnerving. That to me is a bigger cynicism than all of the birthers and deathers combined, because it speaks volumes that for all the little you think you're getting, you'd be happier to get nothing at all regardless of how you didn't get it.
I am not asking for anything regarding the party, or the politics. I am not asking you to support the President or the party unfailingly without question, nor am I asking for revolt, or anything in between. I don't ask for you to feel that there is great hope, or no hope. My biases are somewhere in between the two extremes, but it is not my place to tell you what to think. I only advocate one thing and ask for that one thing: keep perspective, keep trying, and don't forget that the fights will be tough and we won't win every battle.
That's all I have to say on the matter. Hopefully my words will have an impact but at the same time I don't pretend that they will. I just hope even if you disagree with me on some, most or all, at least I give you something to think about. Have a good day.