Okay, so we've gotten the 26 billionth confirmation that Joe Lieberman is a corporate hack, and a lying piece of bacterial waste. We've know that for quite some time now.
But more important than him, we have Health Insurance Reform to pass and we must take a different approach. Reconciliation is one possible route, but it is messy.
We need to be a little more patient and politically savvy. Follow along for an idea that may not be too popular around these parts, but it can work.
Okay, the first priority is to pass something. Yes, something. I really believe it is time to drop the entire public option. Yes, you heard me right. Drop it...but don't forget it.
Let the Senate pass a bill without one. Let the House do the same. What will we have achieved then?
Okay- No more pre-existing condition denials, no more limits on coverage, no more rescissions of coverage, plus a whole pile of regulations placed on the insurance industry. Furthermore, the exchange stays in place, as do subsidies to make insurance affordable. As far as the mandate to buy coverage, I would water that down for now.
That stuff by itself is more reform and change to the current insurance system than anyone has ever accomplished. It would be a huge political win.
So what about the public option?
It is incredibly important to realize that the public option even in its most robust form, was not going to take effect until 2013. Let's get what we can get passed now, and get ourselves a better Senate in 2010 and 2012.
Instead of bitching (see my own rant at Lieberman in a comment in tonight's open thread), we need to get the politicians who will do what we want. That means working for more progressives where ever we can. Complaining about the President, about Reid, etc. does nothing. Threatening not to vote Democratic as some have written here is just plain dumb.
We need real progressives in the Senate who will have the power to change the rules like making 55 votes enough to break a filibuster. Get a few more of those people in that body and there will be more than enough time to get a real public option going: Like expanding Medicare to be the public option.
It can be done and still take effect in 2013.
In the long run we get everything- a more progressive Senate, better HCR, a better public option, and other progressive ideas as well go through.
And Joe Lieberman? Sometime in 2013, you'll be able to find him signing his autobiography, "I Was an Asshole in the Senate" in a Barnes and Noble somewhere in Connecticut. Don't rush, it won't be very crowded.
We can fall on our swords now for the public option and get nothing and make the Liebermans even more powerful. Or, we can devise a take an incremental view of things, work for more progressives and make the Liebermans irrelevant.