I owe this President and Congress a sincere apology. They delivered a serviceable bill under the most adverse circumstances imaginable. The most egregious lies were widely peddled and believed. The largest news organization in the world was relentlessly trying to get Americans to believe that passing this bill would spell the end of Western civilization. Lunatics were toting military-style rifles outside town halls next to signs promising bloody revolution. Ordinary people were equating a rather tame package of reform with Socialism, Communism, Nazism.
Ending the practice of working families putting off treatment for serious disease until they reach the point of crisis will save families, employers and government untold billions. Getting and keeping Americans insured will help rein in costs. We will now begin to turn the corner on the epidemics of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
There is much to regret in the compromises that went into this bill, but its defeat would have spelled the death of reform hopes. Now we need to line up behind Rep. Alan Grayson’s Medicare You Can Buy Into Act. This is not the end, but it is the end of the age when serious reform could be seen as unrealistic. It is for this reason that I am filled with hope.
When Senator Obama ran his history-making campaign, he promised a post-partisan politics and, of all his promises, this may be the one he has adhered to most vigilantly. He has tacked to the center on national security and civil liberties, has included industry players in every major policy discussion, and gave House Republicans much of what they wanted on the stimulus bill. He got zero Republican votes for his efforts.