The Anonymous Moderate's Blog

Yesterday, I commented on the epic failure and monumental embarrassment for Democrats that was Scott Brown’s Senate win in Massachusetts. I then repeated my closing phrase of that post to some friends of mine and received a slew of comments in return, one from a conservative, the rest from liberals — their rhetoric clearly implying that I support the Democrats’ health care reform plan.

But, I never said I was a proponent of the HCR bill as it currently stands. I said we can kiss the bill itself goodbye. There’s a difference. Andrew Sullivan echoed my sentiments in a blog post earlier today:

“I believe this health reform bill is as good as it will get in confronting a real and pressing problem. But the system we have is designed to prevent change. And that’s the underlying reality here: if the governing political party is not united, and the opposition party is determined not to improve legislation but to kill a presidency, and exploit populism for purely partisan purposes, then it’s very, very hard to pass major legislation.”

While I think the Democrats deserve the credit and praise for (once again) undertaking the Herculean task that is reforming health care, their plan to slap a bill together and barrel it through Congress at breakneck speed was a terribly unwise decision which showed both weakness and desperation on their part. On the flip side, all the GOP has done is complain about the Dem’s HC proposal and scream about how much money it’ll cost without offering a viable alternative of their own. (Republicans can’t talk the talk and then not walk the walk, so-to-speak.)

The election in Massachusetts wasn’t so much a referendum on HCR as it was on Obama’s overall performance this past year. As Mort Zuckerman lamented this week, not once but twice, Obama’s done almost everything wrong so far. Not only has he failed to address cost-constraints associated with HCR, but the economy is still in the toilet and its future outlook looks sluggish at best, horrific at worst. Our country’s unemployment rate is out of control. Complete with the U-6, the number of people actively leaving the job market each month, and the government’s underreporting of employment, word on the street is that America’s unofficial unemployment rate is now 22%. Hear that, everyone? 22%.

That’s what’s got so many Americans pissed off with Obama — and rightfully so. The Administration, along with Congress, spent the past 7 MONTHS pontificating about HCR. It’s as though they forgot we were in a recession.

Massachusetts had nothing to lose on the health care front; the Romneycare system adopted in 2006 broadly expanded the state’s coverage. That bill, which Scott Brown publicly supported, is almost identical to the Congressional legislation under consideration now. The only difference is that the Federal HCR plan is actually more conservative when it comes to controlling costs. That doesn’t mean the current HCR proposal is worthy of passage — yet. Certain components of the bill still need to be refined.

Fiscal debating aside, one of the main issues at the core of the whole HC debate rests within the nature of the legislation itself. There’s a stark difference between what’s actually being debated here: Some believe that HC is just another good or service, while others believe HC is a human right. I personally fall in line with the latter but I understand the necessary practicality behind the former. Unfortunately, the two parties are fighting for plans that they prefer instead of compromising and developing one plan that could actually work.

Hyper-partisanship has completely paralyzed the American political system. And this became even more apparent yesterday when Brown won in MA.

Now that the GOP has 41 Senate seats they won’t have the luxury anymore of sitting back and screaming “NO!” at everything the Dems propose. They’re going to have to step up and work to develop legislation that will assist our country in moving forward. Of course, the GOP could always just STOP EVERYTHING NOW… but that won’t reflect well on their party nor will it help them electorally. They’d look just as bad, if not worse, than the Dems do at the moment.

If we find ourselves nailing the coffin shut on health care reform again, it’ll be at the fault of the Democrats. And only the Democrats. And, if that happens, we can anticipate nothing less than a bloodbath in Senate elections later this year.

A reader (Rob Jase) of this blog made quite the telling statement today:

“I think the message being sent is ‘If Democrats refuse to actually do anything to fix the system then we may as well let Republicans finish breaking everything.'”

That’s pretty much where we’re at right now. And it’s a really shitty place to be.

Brown wins, wins, wins the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by now deceased Democrat Ted Kennedy. An EPIC FAILURE for and by Democrats.

There goes health care reform. Here comes another decade with 40 million people uninsured.