I'm actually hesitant to write this diary because, if I'm right, I may be tipping the opposition to the hand that the President and Democrat Congressional leaders are actually playing. However, since I have zero credibility and my diary will probably sink rapidly to the bottom of the list, what the hell.
I have this nagging suspicion that this absurdity we're seeing in the fight to get real health insurance reform might actually be an intentional thing.
One thing that attracted me to Barrack Obama was the genius of his campaign staff many of which are also running the White House. They seemed to be the only real chess players in a field of checker hacks. Time and again they seemed to find ways to take scary and seemingly hopeless scenarios and actually get political advantage out of them.
People don't change overnight although I fully acknowledge the effects of jading that occurs over many years in career politicians. Folks, there simply hasn't been enough time for that to occur since the election so let's stop with the talk that Obama and his staff have sold out. That's absurd. If they're sellouts, they have been for many years and we should be applauding them for hiding it so well over such a long time. What masterful actors they must be.
So, if we can assume that this huge personality shift has not occurred, we're left with shaking our heads at things that simply don't make any logical sense such as the appearance that Obama is playing nice with scumbags like Lieberman and that there's this huge feud that's developed with Howard Dean. Think about this politically and logically. Where's the future in this? Obama was elected largely through the interaction of the net community of which Dean holds nearly Godlike stature.
So, here's what just might be occurring. To anyone skilled at math, it was apparent from the start that the Democrats never had the 60 votes to get any health care reform bill through the Senate that didn't cater extensively to the health insurance cartel. There was NEVER any chance with the filibuster in place that a real public option, any form of single payer healthcare, or any bill without ridiculous mandates could have made it out of the Senate or to the President's desk. Faced with that reality, think about the options using standard Washington procedures and even the bully pulpit. Let's face it. We American voters are not our European counterparts. We will never take to the streets by the millions or stage some national strike to get what we want. We will sit back lazily watching Dancing With the Stars and bitch about our leadership. The only time we seem to get energized is when the country gets so close to the brink of disaster that we have no choice.
So picture this tactic and please remember back to the days during Bush when we screamed at the top of our lungs when the Republicans threatened to use the "nuclear option" and remove the filibuster from Senate rules. That part is vitally important in this picture.
The obvious move for the Democrats was always to remove the necessity of the 60 vote margin but, had they done it early in the process, the calls of hypocrisy would have drowned out the health care debate. It was simply not politically feasible.
So, in order to be able to make the move, the citizen outrage over the process had to be ignited first. What better way than to take us to the brink of disaster and foment that anger than by putting the spotlight on the process itself instead of the actual issue. What we're seeing now, the infighting, the teasing about the public option, Medicare buy-ins, the nasty back and forth between Howard Dean and the White House, the coddling of idiots like Lieberman and Nelson, the inconsistencies of message may actually be designed to piss us off and give the illusion that the whole Democrat Party has fractured and that health care reform is dead and buried.
If you're going to pull the ace out of your sleeve, you want the opposition to have their defenses lowered as much as possible and you want as little time available to them to mount an effective counterattack. You want your move to feel like a 2 by 4 to the head.
If we continue to scream loud enough, Obama and Congressional leaders have their excuse for pulling out all the punches. "We tried everything we could to make this a truly bi-partisan effort but the people have spoken loudly and angrily. They want this to end and end now and for true reform to get passed. We have no choice but to rewrite Senate rules to allow a true up and down vote on this vital issue. Since the original Senate bill was heavily watered down by the attempt at bipartisanship we will not use it but will instead put forth the House bill for an immediate vote in both chambers."
Suddenly the Democrats (without the Blue Dogs) are in lockstep. The debate and passage is furious and fast and within days the bill is on Obama's desk.
Now, is all this feasible? Hell, it sure seems a lot more feasible than the absurd notion that Obama and Dean are fighting loudly and publicly. Something is in the wings folks and I get this impression we'll all be stunned when it occurs.
If I'm wrong, I'm going into the guillotine business.