Massachussetts Voters do the Democratic Party a Favor

The voters of Massachusetts did the nation, and quite likely the Democratic Party, a major favor on Tuesday by electing State Senator Scott Brown (R) to represent them for the balance of the late Senator Kennedy's term in the United States Senate.

The arrival of an additional Republican ends the Democratic Party's filibuster proof majority and suggests that the so-called health care reform bill will now not pass. To describe the current bill, as passed by the Senate, as an abomination is an understatement while the version passed by the House of Representatives is even worse.

The current health care system is broken and dysfunctional, but, sadly, no bill at all would be better than the likely outcome were the House and Senate Bills to be reconciled and passed.

President Obama, recognizing the political realities, has called upon the Congress to refrain from forcing through a bill before Senator-elect Brown is seated. That is good. He has also requested a scaled down bill containing the provisions that are generally agreed upon. There the President misses the point.

What is needed is to restart the process and produce legislation that is acceptable to both parties and to the nation as a whole. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has taken that position and he is a man who has proven that he can work across the aisle.

Let Senator McCain, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), and others of like mind, set about drafting a health care bill that includes real reform including cost containment and provisions to create a fair and honest insurance market that has much lower administrative and marketing costs than now.

Tort reform would be desirable but your correspondent, having long ago ceased to believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, does not expect any such thing from a Congress controlled by the Democratic Party.

To return to the proposition that the Democratic Party will benefit, here are the likely electoral consequences:

• If they pass a wildly unpopular bill, based on their current work, their punishment will be severe.
• If there is no health care bill, they will be castigated for achieving nothing (see the 1948 elections) and lose seats but not as many as by passing a bad bill.
• If they pass a scaled down bill, they will lose still fewer seats.
• If they pass a bi-partisan bill that includes true reform or, if not yet passed, are making significant progress, then their losses will be no more than are generally expected during a mid-term election.

For the last outcome to occur, however, President Obama must lead rather than leave the decisions to the Congress. He will also have to defeat - or, at minimum, marginalize - two great threats to a successful Presidency: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Both of these persons are small minded and ideologically extreme which gives them an unsurpassed ability to damage our country. Their early retirement - or defeat at the polls - would make the world a slightly - perhaps significantly - better place.