Yes; I'm serious. Senator Coburn may have single-handedly, albeit unwittingly, given us the ultimate cudgel to wield in the health care debate. No; I haven't completely lost it. I'm feeling fine. And inspired:
Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
- Sun Tzu
We won. A public option is in most versions of the bill. Now it's time to fight for victory.
If we want a few stars, we've got to demand the moon.
details down there
I happen to be of the opinion that keeping single payer and other outlier ideas front and center in the debate and negotiations does nothing but strengthen the position of the public option. The public option simply cannot be painted as extremist and socialist when it is contrasted very starkly against single payer or if Congress is auto-enrolled.
Here is Coburn's Amendment:
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, a doctor from Oklahoma, offered an amendment to the current healthcare bill being developed in the Senate that would require all members of Congress use the public option if passed. "Let's demonstrate leadership—and confidence in the system—by requiring that every member of Congress go into it," Coburn said.
Thanks to a fit of impishness on the parts of Kennedy and Dodd, it passed 12-11. Allow me to re-emphasize:
The Senate HELP committee's health care bill contains an amendment mandating that Congress enroll in and use the Public Option we get out of this reform exercise.
Hail Eris! Coburn submitting this amendment just sent Congress all ascramble over the golden apple. And if you ask me, he just established ground zero for the upcoming fight over the final health reform plan. What I mean by that is this:
If we keep this amendment in the final version of the bill, we win. I won't feign politeness and I won't dance around the point: the only way they're going to deliver for the American People on health care is if it affects them as well.
The pressure from all sides to pass health care reform, including POTUS, is tremendous; if Congress is obligated to participate in whatever plan results, then the details of said plan will reflect their sense of entitlement.
Conversely, the mere presence of this amendment gives our side tremendous negotiating power.
The same is true of Kucinich's amendment. It does not add to the cost of the health care bills being considered. All it does is gives states the choice to implement pilot single payer health programs, via exemption from ERISA requirements.
Okay, that's not all it does; it also provides a brilliant foil for the mischaracterizations of the public option the right is sure to foist on the world. For every person who realizes the public option is not single payer, the debate is shifted a little. The more people compare and contrast single payer with the public option, the stronger they both become. Kucinich's amendment also pits them squarely against their states' rights fetish. It will be very interesting to see how they try to spin that one.
I believe that Coburn and Kucinich's amendments are pure, unadulterated win. They give us one hell of a lot of leverage going into reconciliation and Negotiation 101 dictates that you do NOT start negotiating from your compromise position. We already drew a line at a public option and look how barely we got it.
Our mission, then, is to call our Congresscritters and demand they keep these amendments in the final bill. Let's make Coburn's too-clever-by-half poison pill blow up in his face.