Senator Mitch McConnell has promised a vote in the Senate on the repeal of the health reform bill. I think Harry Reid should give it to him and let McConnell be a victim of his own conceit.
If I hear one more Republican talk about how they heard the voters in November and then either ignore the voters or be completely ignorant of what the voters were saying I may become ill.
The vote in November was not about health care reform. It was not a rejection of Democratic policies. It was a statement of disgust over exactly how ugly the process is in Washington and the fact that no one seems to care about jobs. Democrats played a role in this and Republicans played a role in this.
The tax compromise which I supported and received a virtual lashing from die hard liberals proved to be a success. It proved to be key in providing liberals with historic victories in the lame duck session.
More importantly the tax compromise was instrumental in the President's improving poll numbers and the fact that independent voters are once again in the game for Democrats.
Did independent voters like extending the tax cuts for the rich? No, heck no. What they liked was that something was accomplished. The two sides came together and agreed upon something. Each side got something of what they wanted. It was not the Republican version of compromise in which congress only does what both sides agree on. It was the traditional version of compromise in which both sides give a little and get a little.
While Speaker of the House, John Boehner may reject the word compromise, the American people do not. This fact should now be clear.
The American people want something to get done. Since the election, Republican's sole focus has been on repealing health reform. Few people actually want to re-litigate health care reform.
All polling has shown a decline in support for health care repeal and there is nowhere near a clear mandate for repeal. There has been too many stories about the positive affects of the bill. Seniors do not want the donut hole reopened. Parents do not want their children who are recent college graduates kicked off of their insurance.
The Republicans are now preparing to attempt to live up to their pledge to cut government spending by 100 billion dollars and at the same time they are setting themselves up for a complete reversal of fortunes. While the people do care about the deficit, they care about Social Security and Medicare more. What are the first two things the Republicans chose to attack? Social Security and Medicare of course. They will pay a price for this.
Now for the caveat.
Harry Reid should unify his Democratic Senators, then give Republicans the vote on health care repeal, but not before making the following statement at a press conference.
"I would like to announce that the Senate will take up the repeal of health care reform. Rather than having this play out in the media, we would like to get this over with. Although the time spent discussing and debating health care repeal is a monumental waste of a precious commodity as was the vote in the House. I feel the only way to move on to the most necessary matter of today which is creating jobs is to dispense with health care repeal as quickly as possible. We know the American people have grown weary about this debate, while at the same time they are enjoying the benefits of the new legislation.
"While Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace the health care bill they have yet to indicate what they will replace it with. I do not, I repeat, I do not think this is an accident. They have nothing to offer and will be more than happy with the status quo. Democrats choose to change and improve the health care bill. Our first step is to let small business owners know that we heard them and we will take up legislation to remove the stricter 1099 reporting requirements. While the Republicans continue to tilt at windmills we will continuously endeavor to improve the bill, since the health care of our citizen's is so very important.
"There is no clear mandate from the majority of American's to repeal health care. There may be a mandate from their conservative base, but the Democratic leadership in the Senate feels it important to consider the wishes of all people. I suspect that once Republican's feel confident that they have satisfied their base and secured their votes for the next election that they will feel comfortable talking about the things we must be doing to create jobs.
"While they have made clear their plan for reducing the deficit by dismantling Social Security and Medicare we are eager to see something....anything that resembles a plan to create jobs which is necessary to move this country forward. It is my personal belief that it is time to restore the faith of the American people that we can get things done in Washington and as soon as the Republicans are done playing around we fully intend to accomplish this goal."
Of course this scenario will never play out, but one can dream can't he?