House Democrats Must Vote For Reform
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on March 17th, 2010 4:32 am by HL
House Democrats Must Vote For Reform
Robert Reich, Huffington Post
Health care reform is necessary, and House Democrats should vote for it because it's best for the nation.They should also remember the political lessons of history. To paraphrase Mark Twain, history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. As the White House and the House Democratic leadership try to line up 216 votes to pass health care reform — and as Republicans, aided by the National Association of Manufacturers and abetted by fierce partisans like Newt Gingrich, try to kill it — I can't help thinking back to 1994 when the lineup was much the same.I was serving in the…
A Fight to the Finish
Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH…. I'll admit it — it's tempting to think the final push towards health care reform is going well. President Obama told ABC's Jake Tapper yesterday, “I believe we are going to get the votes, we're going to make this happen.” House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) told reporters after a caucus meeting last night, “There's tremendous anticipation, and certainly a lot of anxiety, but I believe we have the votes and that we will get this bill done this week.”At the same time, Republicans sound increasingly…
Health-Reform Vote Deserves a Reasonable Process
The Spirit of Sympathy vs. ‘Bitter Division’
David Brooks, New York Times
Human beings, the philosophers tell us, are social animals. We emerge into the world ready to connect with mom and dad. We go through life jibbering and jabbering with each other, grouping and regrouping. When you get a crowd of people in a room, the problem is not getting them to talk to each other; the problem is getting them to shut up. David Brooks David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns. To help us in this social world, God, nature and culture have equipped us with a spirit of sympathy. We instinctively feel a tinge of pain when we observe another in pain (at least most of…
What Happened to the Postpartisan Era?
William Pewen, New York Times
While Democrats may yet enact health care reform via a convoluted process that involves passing three separate bills, many people may wonder, "What happened to the postpartisan era?" Both President Obama's 11th-hour meeting with Republicans and the Republican leaders' demands to "start over" are recognized by Americans for what they are "” political talk substituting for bipartisan legislation.As health policy adviser for Senator Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican, while Congress considered this most critical and complicated…
