There's been a lot of anger among conservatives directed at
Republicans leading up to the health care bill passing the Senate
this morning. Is this anger justified? My answer is yes, but I
mean that in a different way than other conservatives.
Much of the criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
has centered around him not playing hardball, and not doing more
to obstruct passage of the health care bill during the Senate
debate -- and ultimately breaking the vow to force a vote on
Christmas Eve (as opposed to this morning). As far as I'm
concerned, while this may have been more emotionally satisfying
in some respects, I don't think it would have changed the
outcome. Democrats control 60 votes, and if a so-called moderate
like Sen. Ben Nelson is going to sell out so easily, then there
is very little McConnell could have done to affect the outcome at
this late stage in the game. He also deserves credit for keeping
the Republican caucus united in opposition, including Sens.
Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
At the same time, I'm not going to let Republicans off that easy,
because conservatives should be angry at them. The reason why we
have a liberal in the White House and why Democrats control
overwhelming majorities in Congress is that Republicans failed
badly when they were in power. Democrats were in a position to
push a government takeover of the health care system, because
when Republicans controlled things, they didn't advance free
market solutions. After Hillarycare was defeated in 1994, the
sentiment was that they dodged a bullet, and could go back to
ignoring the issue -- while Democrats were quietly plotting for
the next time they were in control. Sure, health savings accounts
were a good thing, but they were narrow in scope, and far
overshadowed by the largest expansion of entitlements since the
Great Society in the form of the Medicare prescription drug plan.
By the time this year rolled around, Democrats were in power and
Republicans were discredited. Meanwhile, all of the special
interest groups (insurers, drug manufacturers, hospitals, the AMA
and AARP) were on the side of those in power so they could carve
up the pie at the expense of the rest of us. It was going to be
an uphill battle to begin with, but Republicans dithered for
months, and settled on a strategy that ended up focusing on
protecting Medicare from cuts rather than going after something
like the individual mandate, which would have struck a blow at
the heart of Obamacare.
By the time it got to the Senate floor, I don't think any
tactical decisions by McConnell could have made up for more than
a decade of Republican blundering. The Democrats had the votes
and a willingness to cut whatever backroom deals they needed to.
They were willing to do this despite the fact that public opinion
has been overwhelmingly opposed to the bill, and even though a
number of Democrats put their seats in serious peril by voting
for this legislation.
