Since Scott Brown won the vacant Massachusetts Senate seat, politicians and pundits nationwide have sold their version of what it all means. Republicans have trumpeted the fall of Democrats and the rise of their own, fiscally responsible brand. Democrats, however, have been retreating and reflecting. Some polls indicate that the Massachusetts Senate race ended up being all about defeating health care reform while other polls showed that Independents were upset that President Obama and Democrats had not acted forcefully enough in their health care legislation, nor had they been proactive enough on jobs, or harsh enough against Wall Street and banks too big to fail.
In the end, none of that matters. Scott Brown’s election did not significantly change anything in Federal politics, despite what the Right and the Mainstream Media tell us. Democrats still hold decisive majorities in both the Senate and the House, and they own the White House. Sweeping Health Care Reform is still needed, and a bill sits on the table, one that has survived the Right’s most conniving attempts to kill it. No matter what Scott Brown means to America, nothing has really changed; we are still playing the same game we were playing on Monday evening. The same rules apply, and the same people, except for one, are still involved.
At this point, only the Democrats can make Scott Brown mean anything. Sure, Republicans and their pundits can flap their arms and their lips, but they literally have no power in this game, and they earned that. In 2006, Democrats regained the House and Senate, and as if that weren’t enough, in 2008, America further judged Republicans by giving Democrats a so-called fillibuster-proof majority, and the White House. Scott Brown’s victory came too late for Republicans to stop health care reform. The Senate passed it; it’s done. Only Democrats can destroy Health Care Reform now, just as only Democrats could destroy it before Scott Brown was elected. See, nothing has changed in the world of Federal politics.
Democrats are currently trying their hardest to destroy the reform they fought so hard to pass. What stands before them is a bill written not by Republicans or Scott Brown, but by Democrats. It’s their bill, they own it; and Republicans have agreed that it’s their bill by adding not even one line of code to it. This bill belongs to Democrats more fully than they could ever have dreamed. So why are they wringing their hands over it now?
Nine months have passed since Democrats began this Bratwurst. The entire nation has watched the process. Republicans and their demagogue machinery have run way past their oil change date, and still, the bill is written, and passed in the Senate. But many Democrats are now trying to back away from what they have written, as they try to read the Brown tea leaves. Maybe they wish they had never started this thing; maybe they wish it would all go away. Wish all they want, they own this bill, and Republicans are telling everyone. You could no more erase the last nine months than you could guarantee a Buffalo Bills Super Bowl victory this season. The Bills have already been eliminated, and this Bill has already been written, in front of CSPAN cameras, for all eyes to see.
The only thing left for Democrats to do is to put the Brat in the bun. This baby is theirs, and they need to own it. They need to be proud of it, and they need to tell America that they are. Politics is a funny business, and right now, despite Democrats getting farther on Health Care Reform than any previous House, to hear pundits talk, you would think they had failed utterly to write anything. Do you know what else hasn’t changed, and won’t change no matter what? Republicans will attempt to impale Democrats on this bill whether they finalize it or not.
This November, 2010, numerous Senate and House seats are up for grabs. That means it’s game on. Republicans will come out in droves, and their pundits will marginalize everything Democrats have accomplished, in an effort to pin all of their hopes on destroying the public image of this bill, which was completely written by Democrats. Democrats will be judged on this one issue, whether they move forward or not. The firing squad is already organized; there is no dodging the bullets. No matter what they do on this bill from here on, Republicans will skewer them for it.
In Federal politics, you don’t spend nine months writing a bill like this, and then walk away from it as if it never happened. At least, you don’t walk away from it without dire consequences. If Democrats choose to walk away from this bill now, they are, in essence, telling America that the Republicans are right. In Federal politics, as in all wars, history is written by the victors. The only way Democrats can lose this battle is if they walk away from this bill as it sits. If they pause, reflect, and start over, inviting Republicans back to the table, they lose. If they do that, they tell America that they never believed what they were selling us. They tell us that it was never really worth the effort, and that Republicans have been right all along. And maybe Republicans have been right all along. Maybe this bratwurst is so far from real Progressive beliefs that they can’t bring themselves to swallow it. If that’s the case, then why bother in the first place?
Most people agree that true Progressive ideology demands Single-Payer health care for all Americans. Democrats have quietly been saying that this bill can get us there, if we just give it a chance. They’ve spent nine months on this Bratwurst, and countless hours traveling the roads of the States to sell it to their constituents. Republicans, on the other hand, have chosen to tell America that they prefer not to be a part of it. Democratic success with this bill would destroy what little credibility the Republican Party has left.
That’s it. That’s the deal. It’s pretty simple when you get right down to it. Finalize this Health Care Reform Bill, and Democrats win, no matter what the Republicans have to say about it. Not only do Democrats win, but their victory is total, because Republicans chose to lose by not engaging in the process. Scott Brown doesn’t change that, Scott Brown doesn’t change anything. The only people in Washington who change anything right now are Democrats and voters. The voters are watching, Democrats.
You’ve just taken nine months of our time stuffing this bratwurst into its casing. Are you really going to tell us that it was all for nothing, that Republicans were right all along? In the end, if you decide to walk away from this sausage, you lose. Politics are black and white. You only get credit for what you get done. No one praises you for bringing HCR two-thirds of the way home, only to drop it in the end. If you fumble it, you lose.
That is the choice placed before you. For fifteen long years, you have fought to gain this advantage, and bring Health Care Reform back to the table. You visited town-halls, listened to Americans, and won elections; to get to this one point in time. Has it all been for nothing? If you walk away now, you do not get to go to the polls in November, and blame the Republicans. You don’t get to go to town -halls and say, “We got HCR two-thirds of the way there, and would have finished the job had it not been for those obstructing, nasty Republicans and their super-minority.” No one will take you seriously.
Republicans aren’t obstructing anything. They don’t have the numbers they need to do that. Scott Brown came along too late for him to have any impact on this process. His election has not changed Federal politics at all.
Only Democrats can obstruct HCR now, and if you do, America will remember it for a long, long time. Put the Bratwurst in the bun, and eat it. It’s yours, and so is victory if you do.
