Senator Lieberman has apparently decided that he’d rather be a spoiler than a hero when it comes to passing health care reform. After nixing a public optiion with an option for states to opt out (which was already a compromise position), he has now decided that he can’t support the compromise of that compromise–letting people buy into Medicare. Lieberman is clearly more interested in exacting revenge on liberal Democrats than getting a bill passed, but the inescapable math of getting to sixty probably requires that he win this round. The Maine Republicans don’t show any signs of budging and reconciliation would be a messy, lengthy process that could result in a far less comprehensive bill.
Passing this bill won’t be the end of health care reform. There will be opportunities to improve it in the years to come, but a bill needs to pass for that to happen. And the enormous benefits of passing a flawed bill will endure long after Lieberman is consigned to his bitter grave.
