No, it’s not the liberating victory Obama had sought by any stretch of the imagination. The crippling infighting over health care reform is just going into the next phase, prognosis unknown. But with passage of the House reform bill, the Democrats have at least arrived at the starting line. The fear of ending up with empty hands managed to bind them together.
Election setbacks in Virginia and New Jersey clearly showed the Democrats what happens when a governing party doesn’t govern. Anger in the left or right wings of the party suddenly seemed less threatening than the Waterloo of 1994, when dejected Democrats buried their healthcare reform program and were then punished at the ballot box.
A clear majority of Americans still want changes to a healthcare system that excludes millions of citizens and nonetheless costs more than any other system in the world. That’s why Obama needs reform, and he needs it quickly. Too many other problems are piling up on his desk that shouldn’t be blocked by Washington infighting over healthcare.
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