Once it became clear that the Democrats had sixty votes, last night’s procedural vote on health care was somewhat anticlimactic, although no less significant. Every procedural hurdle surmounted adds to the growing perception that the bill’s passage is inevitable. The Senate leadership still has its work cut out for it, though. Senators Lieberman, Landrieu, Nelson, and Lincoln (I have no doubt the media will start referring to them as the Gang of Four, if they haven’t already) are going be the most popular kids in school for the next few weeks because they remain the wild cards in a final vote. If a public option disappears from the final, it will because one or more of these Democrats demanded it as a pound of flesh for their vote.
I can live with a bill that doesn’t include a public option, but I truly don’t understand these senators’ ferocious opposition to the concept. It polls well and the Congressional Budget Office has already determined it will save money. Three of these senators come from conservative states and they may feel the need to appease the Glen Beck crowd, but that doesn’t explain Lieberman, who is doing his best to end a long career in public service with a reputation as a resentful narcissist.
Progressives are going to have to do a lot of flattering, persuading, and cajoling in the coming weeks to ensure that the Senate passes a bill full of tepid and half-hearted reforms.
