RSS Feed Menu“Democrats, play hardball and force a reconciliation,” advises journalist George Curry in the pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s the hard-edged advice offered much in opinion columns and blogs these days, as liberals come to terms with the full implications of Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts.
The problem for Democrats, though, isn’t simply in the Senate and the loss of the filibuster-proof 60 votes. Even if Obamacare could pass untouched – and it can’t – through the obscure parliamentary procedure of reconciliation, the White House faces a much bigger problem: the House Democrats.
In the Washington Examiner, editorialists Mark Tapscott and Michael Barone have been debating the latest rumor: that House Democrats are about 100 votes shy of the needed majority.
For the record, Barone isn’t fully committed to the 100 vote figure. He does, however, believe that Democrats are well short of a majority. As he reasons:
Why are House Democratic leaders having such trouble getting the 217 votes needed for a majority (because there are vacancies now in two Democratic-held seats)? Look at it this way. Imagine you’re a Democratic congressman from a not entirely safe district. The leadership comes to you and says, We’d like you to vote for the Senate bill. Oh, and by the way, we can’t change a word in it. You’ve got to vote for the Cornhusker Hustle and the Louisiana Purchase and all that other garbage.
Going into the health summit next week, the White House is in a weak position. That gives them two options. 1) Come to the meeting with a genuine compromise, hoping to pick up Republican support. 2) Continue to push Obamacare and hope that the publicity (particularly the contrast with Republicans) will help the ailing project. With an eye on that latter option, Jay Cost has already dubbed the event “the Blair House stunt.”
There’s much time between now and next Thursday, and I’ll be blogging more about the White House and possible Democratic strategies for next week’s meeting.
But I also hope to write on what the Republican response might be, not simply in Blair House, but in the months ahead. Republicans could be on the verge of a 1994-like victory (winning both the House and the Senate) but are they also on the verge of a 1995-like mistake (doing little on the health reform issue)?
sinz54 // Feb 17, 2010 at 9:47 am
It doesn’t matter what Obama says or does.
Pelosi and Reid have made it quite clear that they don’t want negotiation or compromise with the Repubs. They want to remake all of America along the left-wing lines they’ve dreamed of for so long.
Thank heavens for Scott Brown. He destroyed Pelosi’s dreams.
GOProud // Feb 17, 2010 at 11:15 am
Your choices are false, DavidG.
It isn’t compromise or confrontation. It’s political theatre and all you should expect of Obama and the Obami Cult is more grand acting, little substance or merit in the proceedings.
The Obami Cult just needs to get through the meeting appearing to be in control, open to change, willing to listen and embrace new ideas… because the “summit” is pure political theatre for consumption by the Obami’s MSM.
It is a shallow, base partisan attempt to get voters to think Obama is something he is not, that he’s willing to be something he can not be, and that –in the end– Obama made a good faith effort to bridge the harsh partisan divide but the “GOP wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t help, doesn’t care” about bipartisanship. Obama jumps off the hook, or out of the pan and avoids the fire in 2010 while fellow Democrats roast like weenies at a volunteer fire dept picnic.
The GOP leadership needs to come to the meeting armed to wrestle bear. They have the most to lose in the gambit and ensuring they have a level playing field, fair rules of engagement and equal opportunity to make their case for real reform, not just the Hype of Obama’s Hopes, is critical to “winning” this little side contest. No one will remember it if the GOP comes off looking credible… they’ll only remember it if Obama comes off looking reasonable, presidential and open.
Otherwise, the Obami will move to Step #2 in the process and return to painting the GOP as the Party of No… when Obama is actually the Grand Master of No. The GOP needs to harp on Obama’s earlier position on bipartisanship: “I won, I get to decide”.
And the GOP leaders need to wonder aloud, in front of the microphones and in the media, if Obama understands the anger that exists in America over a continued practice of failed leadership, broken promises, partisan grandstanding.
Obamacare: Still Dead in the Water | FrumForum // Mar 13, 2010 at 5:27 am
[...] reconciliation. The problem for the White House, though, is not the Senate. It’s the House. As I noted last week, rumors suggest that as many as 100 House Democrats would vote against [...]