Kucinich is a major backer of a singer-payer form of health care, of which there are a considerable amount in the House. Some supporters of that system, as well as just plain political analysts, consider the Obama Administration's taking that position off the table immediately was a poor negotiating move, said it has now allowed the "public option" to become the be-all, end-all for liberals in terms of believing the bill can achieve true competition in the marketplace, and been easy for Republicans to oppose.
Major props must be given to the oft criticized Nancy Pelosi, for doing what she had to do to corral the 218 votes plus to secure passage of the legislation. It meant for Pelosi swallowing hard and accepting an amendment by Michigan's Bart Stupak banning abortion votes that got her the number of votes she needed, while at the same time alienating pro-choice Democrats who are not happy with the inclusion of that amendment.
As Politico writes:But the speaker’s decision — like so many others she made during the drafting of this bill — showed Pelosi, a Roman Catholic and committed supporter of reproductive rights, to be more ruthlessly practical than her frequent caricature as an activist, upper-crust liberal from San Francisco would suggest.
It wasn’t just that she was disappointing some members over a last-minute change they disagreed with. She had to take on her closest and senior-most lieutenants on an issue that for many of them is like an article of faith, a defining tenet of what makes them a Democrat. And when she needed the votes, that’s what she did.
As Politico reports this morning:
But the speaker’s decision — like so many others she made during the drafting of this bill — showed Pelosi, a Roman Catholic and committed supporter of reproductive rights, to be more ruthlessly practical than her frequent caricature as an activist, upper-crust liberal from San Francisco would suggest.
It wasn’t just that she was disappointing some members over a last-minute change they disagreed with. She had to take on her closest and senior-most lieutenants on an issue that for many of them is like an article of faith, a defining tenet of what makes them a Democrat. And when she needed the votes, that’s what she did.
Now of course, all of the attention turns to the Senate and Majority Leader Harry Reid's quest to get 60 votes. A public option is in the House bill - will some form of it be in the Senate's is one of the central questions that will dominate Washington domestic politics up until and perhaps past the Holidays.
South Carolina's Lindsey Graham called the House bill "dead on arrival in the Senate", and Connecticut's Joe Lieberman said if the bill in the Senate contains the public option, he will not allow the bill to come to the floor.
