The op-ed suffers from a number of popular misconceptions that need to be remedied. Let's take them step by step: Dwindling public support for the health care bills drafted by Congress — down to 38 percent support according to a Pew Research Center survey this month? Bennet: What of it? In fact, the public option is an object lesson in how Democrats lose support for their efforts by not being populist enough. The public option has consistently been more popular than health care reform overall and still has the support of a majority nationwide. The health care bill became less popular when the public option was stripped from the Senate bill. Repeated Democratic electoral losses due in part to public angst over the liberal agenda and anger about extreme partisanship in Congress? Apparently it doesn’t mean anything to Bennet. The lesson of the Democrats election losses is that they haven't gone far enough. When 32% of voters that voted for Obama and then voted for Scott Brown in Massachusetts don't like the Senate bill, but 82% like the public option, the political lesson is clear. Increasing numbers of Democrats choosing not to seek re-election, including centrist Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, who said liberals had become “tone deaf” and were “overreaching” in pushing their agenda? Forget that. Push it through, Bennet argues. The American people care about only one thing: results. They don’t care what type of procedure is used to pass reform, as long as reform works for them. The American people are likely to reward politicians who stand up for once controversial programs that become an important part of the social contract (as with Medicare and Social Security). Tea parties and town hall meetings to protest government spending and health care reform? Bennet says, No big deal. Ah yes, the 33% of Americans that support the Tea Parties. As pointed out by Matthew Yglesias, "that is less than the 38 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Cuba and the 36 percent that are favorably disposed toward socialism." Michael Bennet’s stand in favor of using reconciliation to pass the public option is standing strong on principle and playing to the political left. The Republicans have joined with the health insurance industry and a small group of industry affiliated Democrats to block a deficit reducing provision that has overwhelming public support. Using reconciliation to pass the public option, as the Republicans did to pass both Bush tax cuts, is completely in keeping with the letter and spirit of the procedure. Michael Bennet deserves the support of Coloradans who want their politicians to stand up for common sense in the face of faulty conventional wisdom and deep-pocketed opposition. Join the effort at WhipCongress.com to support progressive leadership and fight for the public option. I'm a campaigner for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. This entry is cross posted at the BoldProgressive blog. |
STATE BLOGS
