Reply #69: I don't think any bill is going to survive

[customerserviceguy]

Frankly, I think the Obama Administration bit off more than it could chew with HCR. America voted for change, and that meant leadership, not saying to a corrupt Congress, "Whatever you come up with, I'll sign."

If the President had convened open committees to discuss the various ideas that we've only heard about when they float out from backroom meetings, there might have been a chance that the American people would trust the process under which HCR is being crafted. The Landreau deal, the Nelson deal, the capitulation to Lieberman, and even the secret meeting with the union leaders that said that they were going to be exempt for five years from being whacked with the Cadillac tax all tainted HCR, and that's what went down in yesterday's election.

There are only two ways to possibly accomplish HCR, the first is to hope that the economy recovers, America's short political memory fades, and we get true progressives in 2013, if not in 2011. If our Blue Dogs get dumped in favor of freshman Republicans, we have the chance to come back with some solidly progressive candidates in the 2012 election. The other is for the President to say, "I've learned my lesson, can we come together as one country, Democrats and Republicans, and fix our health care problems?" Since HCR is probably radioactive at this point, it's not going to happen, but it might re-establish the trust that America put in Barack Obama to stop the polarization that has gripped this country.