David Frum is feeling glum.
Former Bush speechwriter David Frum says Republicans bet that the health care reform bill would be President Obama’s Waterloo — “just as health care was Clinton’s in 1994.”
“Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.”
“This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none… We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.”
I wouldn’t say they got nothing. It just got a lot harder for those of us who would like to do away with the Hyde Amendment, and if we’re not careful, the stupid Ben Nelson language in the Senate bill will make it harder for people to find a provider to help end a pregnancy. I’d say that the anti-choice movement made some progress in this messy process, and that’s at least something that Republicans can point to as progress. But, in the larger picture, David Frum is correct. This bill might have been the Republican version of health care fifteen-twenty years ago. Today it passes with no Republican support. And they have so poisoned the minds of their supporters, that they will never be able to govern effectively in this new paradigm. They screwed themselves. Plus, this bill greatly expands Medicaid. Last I checked, not too many people using Medicaid vote for Republicans. If their party goes from being the Party of No to the Party of Repeal, they’ll create at least 31 million solid Democrats. Idiots.
Update [2010-3-21 19:19:33 by BooMan]: The Roll Call on the Rule is a proxy for for the final vote. It passed 224-206, with 28 Democrats losing out on a chance to be seen in a good light by history.