Ezra Klein has some great insight into the process of achieving health care reform.
Even though passing a bill leaves all Democrats better off, voting for a bill leaves some Democrats worse off. There are members of the Democratic Party who desperately need a bill to pass, but also feel that they need to be able to vote against that bill.
A lot of these congressmen don't know much about the bill, or the health-care system, or the interaction between the two.
Certainly not many seem to have grasped the basic truth that our economic future (forget about the health of individual Americans for a moment) depends on a substantive healthcare reform bill. Every single damn one of the leaders of both parties and the team in the White House have failed to make this clear.
And for health-care reform to pass, they're going to have to trust each other, at least a little bit.
Both parties, but most particularly the Republicans, need to grow up, shake off their lobbyists and put their own political ambition in second place to the needs of their country and their constituents. Yes, of course that's probably possible. What we're dealing with here is a bunch of the most ignoble representatives of the American people since never.
Don't forget, we're paying them to a) do nothing for us, but b) enjoy the best public health care option this country has to offer. All we're asking them to do, if you think about it, is share that system with the rest of us.
