Looking to the future to help us with our decisions now.
Without knowing well how the government can work I'm curious to know about this possibility
Let's say we don't get a robust public option this time but Obama goes down hard fighting for it and lives up to his vow (not yet made) that he will sign no legislation without it.
So nothing changes in the immediate, but in so doing we force a vote on a strong public option and see who comes out where. Then we put our heads down in 2010 and make that the defining issue of the mid-term election. Then in 2011 we try to pass health care legislation again. (This is the part I'm not so sure about and would love to hear opinions)
The decision to vote for a strong public option or not is such a no-brainer that the best argument against it is cost, constitutionality and death panels. The tactics of disrupting meetings, though all the rage for the media now, will be old hat in 2011.
What will the right have left to argue at that point?
Everybody will know that Obama will not concede on the public option because he didn't in 2009.
Everybody in office from 2010 will know that they will be judged on their view of the public option.
Think of the support and trust Obama will build if he goes down fighting for the principle he has so often preached and then comes back and says/does the same thing in 2011 especially if the economy is in better shape.
(And to the DKos community I'd like to propose we cut Obama a little slack because, though leaps and bounds better than the competition last fall, he is still relatively young and new to the world of national politics.)
The bottom line is that I don't think this has to be a situation where if we don't pass healthcare now we never will. The wingnuts are loud and make for eye catching news stories that the networks love to promote over a more civil discussion of the facts, but the bottom line is that more than 2/3 of the country still wants a strong public option and I have a good feeling for the future if our president stands by his principle and not the "13 and 0" legislative record Emanuel seems to find more important.
All that said about the future, the best thing would be to make it happen now.
Let's get out there and do our thing like we did last fall. There's still time and fight left in us and what we do now will leave a mark for the future.
and now for a little fluff...
Once when I was 5 or so older my sister had a sleepover with some friends. It was fun for me cause I got lots of attention from her friends. In the morning my mother made pancakes and I wanted to be the first one to eat some and hence special because I would get them first. My mother said "No, we feed our guests first and then you can get some". I threw a total fit and went screaming out of the room. I screamed from the adjacent room too hoping my mother would concede, come in, be nice and give me some pancakes. Even though she could hear me she did nothing but serve pancakes to my sister and her friends. I could hear them enjoying the pancakes in the kitchen and ventually I came quietly back to the stove where my mother was. She looked at me and said intently "Are you ready to join us?". I nodded and felt embarrassed by what I had done especially when I wanted to be so cool in front of my sister's friends.
Mr Obama, please trust your principles like my mother did and settle for nothing less. You will be rewarded for it and the country will be better for it, even though it may not result in immediate victory. It may take time but we will get there. Very similar to a speech I heard on a wonderful November night last year.