There is little doubt that one of the primary reasons Democrats took such a shellacking this November was their Health Care Reform Bill. It isn't that Americans are unsympathetic to the plight of those who are uninsured. The overriding fact is most Americans are
happy with their health care and don'
t want it messed with, even if that means more people would be covered. Secondly, although almost all Americans would agree health care costs are too high, most Americans are having a large part of those costs paid for by their employer. This keeps health care from being a major 'pocket book' issue for them. President Obama tried to sell health care reform as a bill that would reduce both health care costs and the deficit. Anyone who believed that is either ignorant or delusional. Most Americans are neither. President Obama blames the Democrats failure on
the message, but the truth is they were selling 'snake oil.' It has taken only a few months for the proof Democrats were lying about their health care reform bill to emerge. Obamacare will both
raise costs and
the deficit. Now that the cat is completely out of the bag and Democrats have paid a heavy price, liberals need to claim it was worth it to sleep at night.
From
Slate:
Democrats have lost the House, and health care is getting the blame. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, a retiring Democrat, says his party "overreached by focusing on health care rather than job creation" and by spending $1 trillion on "a major entitlement expansion." Sen. John McCain's economic adviser agrees. Pundits say the health care bill killed President Obama's approval ratings, cost congressional Democrats their jobs, and snuffed out the legacy of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
...But if health care did cost the party its majority, so what? The bill was more important than the election.
I realize that sounds crazy. We've become so obsessed with who wins or loses in politics that we've forgotten what the winning and losing are about.
