Originally published on March 15, 2010 at Yo Mama For Obama
As I was driving and listening to the radio, I heard an administration official, it might have been David Axelrod but I cannot be sure of that, say regarding the as-yet lack of needed Democratic votes in the House to pass the health care bill, "It’s still early in the week." What popped out of my mouth was, "But Honey, it’s so late in the game."
Believe me when I say this is not the health care bill that I would have preferred. This version cannot realistically be labeled as "universal health care". However, it is probably the best we are going to get for right now, so I am going with the flow. It is a start. Above all, President Obama and our country need this legislative victory to show the opposition that they cannot paralyze an entire country for their own aims and that, somewhere in their job descriptions, they are working for the good of the people.
My hat is off to Progressives like Howard Dean and Representative Dennis Kucinich. They are at the top of my list for purity of principle. I admire them tremendously. However, more important than blind faith to a principle is the fact that Americans are dropping all over the place from lack of medical coverage and thus, treatment. So we can stand on principle, such as the public option, or we can take care of the people. It is our own Democrats in the House that are holding up passage of this bill. These purists must put their constituents needs above their own ideology. It is a difficult thing to do, but so they must.
Trust me: even I feel like a traitor to the cause of universal health care when I plead for our lawmakers to pass what is in front of them. But at least we will have a beginning structure, a shell, a framework, for decent, affordable health care that can be tweaked, shaped and added on to over the years.
So Honey, pay attention. It is rather late in the game.