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Family and Friends is my everyday journal. Captain's Log is where I pontificate on religion and politics.

Monday, November 23, 2009

My Take

One hurdle jumped over on health care. The 60 votes were there to let the Senate debate health care. Begs the question, why didn't the dems ever do this when Bushco only had 49 to 51 votes on his ruinous eight years of misrule?

Now it seems there are three other hurdles before a health care reform bill will be passed: Socialism, abortion and boobs (Adele M. Stan at Altnet).
Calling this socialism isn't changing the polling numbers in the party of no's favor, but abortion and rationing (the fuss over mammagrams) seems to be having a few cowardly dems ducking for cover. The fact that the cover is big pharma and health insurer's money bags softens the blow.

I am surprised that it has reached this stage. I thought the fillibuster would end it for this year, so I'm wrong on the timing of this exercise in futility, but I still feel nothing will happen this year, no matter how hard Obama is pushing for it. Public option (a no brainer here, no public option no reform only smoke and mirrors) seems to be a sticking point for Mr. I'm so bitter Lieberman who is threatening to join the party of no in another fillibuster, and then there are the real cowards that won't vote for it if all women are allowed to control their bodies. Arguing about the evils of rationing after the last thirty years of bureaucratic denial by health insurers is almost (I said almost) down right funny.
So, what happens if health care doesn't get passed? 1. With all the members of congress and 1/3 of the senate up for re-election it becomes the hottest button issue for next year. I know the fear is that unemployment will distract from this, but I feel Bush is still blamed more for the economy than Obama and Congress is taking steps to come up with a jobs package to nuetralize this threat. 2. Abortion will for the first time be up to a vote, and if that's the reason why the cowardly dems have voted against health care then bid them goodbye. It has been too long that 25% of the population has held the spot light on this issue without a true national response by the voters. If it comes down to decent and affordable health care for all or a woman's right to choose, pro-life loses hands down. 3. The party of no gets voted out of office. Goodbye and good riddence.
Last years election was a step in the right direction and I haven't been all that pleased with Obama, but concidering the alternative I can still support him and have patience because in many ways he's moving in the right direction, just not as fast as I'd perfer. The 2010 election is going to be the either a return to the anarchy and chaos of Bush misrule or the tipping point for getting this country back to resembling a country worth living in.

2 comments:

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

I hope that you are right. I am more pessimistic than you are. I feel that if Health Care is not passed before the mid term elections then it is toast. I think the Dem's will lose seats in both the House and the Senate and the moment will be lost for a long time.

P M Prescott said...

I give it a 50/50 chance. I'd prefer better odds.