I'll believe it when there's a bill on President Obama's desk, but:Democratic leaders in the Senate and House have concluded that a government-run insurance plan is the cheapest way to expand health coverage, and they sought Friday to rally support for the idea, prospects for which have gone in a few short weeks from bleak to bright.
..."He's knows what he's doing is a gamble," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. "But more and more, he's convinced it's the right thing to do."
Reid's calculation is that it could be more difficult to add a public option through amendments on the Senate floor than to include it in the bill and force opponents to try to find the votes to strip it out. Manley said Reid would spend the weekend canvassing Democrats on the opt-out idea and would probably decide Monday whether to include it in the Senate bill. Now, Deeds recently proved that putting an opt-out clause into the hands of fifty idiosyncratic, lobbyist-soaked, electorally buffetted state legislatures is a terrible idea, but it might be the least terrible idea attached to a public plan that can actually pass the senate.
But more to the point. We Democrats will likely read this news and go - "Hoo-ray, Reid finally figured out that a public plan is cheaper and more popular and better than not having one."
I suspect, rather, that it finally sunk into his head that it's also a political winner. That, plus real pressure from the contrast of Nancy Pelosi's leadership in the House.
Slow on the uptake, but getting there. And no, we still deserve a better senate leader than Harry Reid in the next session despite this fourth quarter conversion. |
