As another proof positive that I am not cut out to be a politician, if I were in President Obama’s shoes I would encourage Congress to return to the drawing board on healthcare reform, starting with a blank slate if necessary, and pass a healthcare reform bill that “bends the cost curve” a heckuva lot faster than what they’ve been working on so far which bends the curve down in the very long term and raises it in the near term and I would do so in no uncertain terms. That’s the gist of David Broder’s column this morning:
As David Sanger pointed out in the news analysis that led the New York Times on Tuesday, by projecting a full decade in which debt will outpace income growth for the nation, the budget forecasts a protracted test for the United States’ ability to sustain its domestic harmony and international leadership.
The economic consensus is that the steps Obama has prescribed lead in the right direction but fall far short of what is needed to restore to our children the bright prospects that past generations of Americans thought of as our legacy.
If that sobering message does not compel the members of this Congress to set aside their quarrels long enough to address the problems facing the nation, then they deserve the contempt in which many Americans hold them.
We need statesmen and we have a system that overwhelmingly produces politicians. Giving people candy while preaching broccoli has always been more politically popular than the other way around.
Because that prospect is such a nightmare, Obama is right in saying this Congress cannot simply walk away from health-care reform. It has to try again, with an invitation to Republicans and Democrats to make lowering costs the prime objective and not quitting until there is agreement on a plan.
That would be the statesmanlike thing to do.
There is no plan that will bend the cost curve faster without resorting to cost controls. Remember how long it takes to produce new providers. There is no guarantee that increasing the number of providers or going to high deductibles will actually decrease costs.
Steve
Dave,
Here is what would happen to you, while you were in Obama’s shoes,
1. Congressional Dems would ignore you. They want to keep their jobs.
2. After this, Republicans would ignore you as well.
3. Your popularity rating would go even lower. Thus confirming the Dems choice in 1.
4. in 2012 you’d be looking for a new job.
Being “statesman like” means sitting in office for one term these days.
HAND, HTH
Oh, and Obama doesn’t have the capability to do what you asked. He had this chance initially with health care “reform” and he gave it to the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate and look where that got him. He didn’t have the leadership ability to take charge then, why would you expect him to have it now? He suddenly found his spine?
Spine? Who knows. If you read Daschle’s book, it was pretty clear that most Dems believed that Clinton failed because who tried to force his plan upon Congress. Probably a lesson over-learned. I think he also believed it was possible to work in a bipartisan fashion. If they had skipped the three month stall in the gang of six, HCR would be passed by now. I predicted all along that the special interests group would win out and HCR would not pass. There is no political gain in it for the Republicans. I predict the next attempt, probably 4 or 8 years from now, will be more of a rush job.
Steve