Subject: [big campaign] Huff Post from Creamer- It’s in the Interest of Democrats to Finish Health Care
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:56:37 EST
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Why It’s in the Political Interest of Democrats to Finish  Comprehensive 
Health Care Reform 

The frustration and disappointment is palpable among Democratic Members  of 
Congress and staff.  After nine  months of difficult political labor, they 
were days from passing legislation  that Presidents have unsuccessfully 
sought for half a century. 
Then came the political disaster in Massachusetts.  For many Democrats, 
last week was like  living through The Empire Strikes  Back.  Of course we must 
all  remember how that trilogy ultimately turned out. 
Regardless, there are those who don’t want to sit through a whole new  
episode,  who simply want the health  care debate to go away, to move on to 
something else and forget they even  tried.  That would be a terrible  political 
mistake for swing district Democrats.  Here’s why: 
1). Millions of dollars of  advertising from the insurance industry and 
Chamber of Commerce have convinced  large numbers of voters that the general 
concept of health care reform is a bad  idea.  But it has done nothing to turn 
them  against the underlying elements of the bill.  Americans still 
strongly support ending  the insurance industry’s ability to deny claims because of 
pre-existing  conditions; forcing insurance companies to use most of their 
revenue for health  care instead of profits or CEO pay; providing affordable 
coverage for all  Americans; ending the “donut hole” in pharmaceutical 
coverage for seniors; and  reining  in the power of the  insurance industry.   
If Democrats stop now, swing  voters will continue to believe that the 
Democratic health care initiative was a  bad idea.  The only way they will  
change their minds is if health insurance reform passes, and they begin to see  
some of the benefits for themselves – and, just as important – see that the 
sky  doesn’t fall.  
History shows that every major piece of social or economic legislation  has 
increased in popularity once it is passed.    
If comprehensive health care reform is passed this spring, it will  rapidly 
increase in popularity between passage and next fall’s elections.  That is 
particularly important for all  the House and Senate Members in swing 
districts, since it will improve the  general political environment and improve 
the popular perception of the votes  many swing Members have already taken on 
health care reform. 
2). The fact is that if Democrats don’t pass a  bill, swing members will be 
stuck with all of the negatives of voting for the  bill – and none of the 
benefits of passing it.  Republicans will advertise ad nauseum  about how 
Congressman X voted for “Obamacare” but they won’t get the credit from  those 
who favored the bill, since it never passed into law. 
When I was 16 years old, it snowed in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. 
When it snows in Shreveport, everything  stops and the schools let out.  
Well, this snowstorm happened right in the middle of Mardi Gras, so a  friend 
and I set off on the train to stay with his brother in New Orleans and 
partake in  the Mardi Gras fun. 
In the  course of that trip, we were naïvely – and with wide eyes – 
walking down  Bourbon  Street, when a big hawker at a strip joint said  something 
that taught me an important lesson in life and politics.  He said: “Come on 
in, sonny, they’re  going to say you did anyway.” 
Two hundred and nineteen House Members and Sixty Democratic Senators all  
voted for health care reform.  No  matter what happens Republicans will try 
to attack them for their vote.  Might as well have a major political  
accomplishment to show for it. 
3). Voters like winners – not  losers. They don’t want to hang out with 
losers, and they don’t want to  support them.   If the  Democrats – after 
working for months on health insurance reform – can’t get it  over the finish 
line, the voters will write them off as losers and be less prone  to give 
them their vote.   
Being a winner is an independent variable in politics.  Once Massachusetts 
voters heard that Martha Coakley  was a likely loser they began to desert 
her in droves.  And the same thing works in reverse.  Barack Obama got a huge 
boost when  he won the Iowa caucuses.  Part of that was simply because he 
was  viewed as a winner.   
4). Voters don’t like cowards.  Nobody likes the guy who blows the World  
Series taking a strike instead of swinging at the ball. It would be one thing 
if  Democrats fight tooth and nail to pass a final bill, and go down 
swinging.  It’s another thing if they don’t even  try. 
5). Americans are welling over  with frustration that government can’t get 
anything done to benefit their  lives.  As far as most Americans  are 
concerned, Democrats are in charge of Government.  That means Democrats have to 
deliver real  progress.   
If Democrats don’t pass comprehensive health insurance reform, we will  
look like more than just losers and cowards – we will look incompetent.  Now 
that would not be a fair  characterization.  Reforming  one-sixth of the 
economy is a huge undertaking.  That President Obama and the Democrats  have made 
it this far is an enormous accomplishment.  But that won’t count for 
anything among  the voters.  They want us to deliver.   
6). Passing comprehensive health  care reform would be a big accomplishment 
not only for Congress, but for the  Obama Administration.  History shows  
clearly that the popularity of the President is the major factor affecting 
the  number of Members of Congress from a sitting President’s party that lose 
in  mid-term elections.   
The failure of the health care reform effort in 1993 led directly to the  
Democratic loss of the House the following year. 
If you are a Democratic Member of  Congress facing a tough race, there are 
very few things you can do that are more  important to your re-election than 
voting to make sure that Congress finishes  health care reform. 
And there is a clear route to  accomplish that goal.  Two days  before the 
disaster in Massachusetts, the House and Senate leadership  had come to a 
virtual agreement on the final shape of health care  reform. 
Members of both chambers should pass that agreement.  The only issue should 
be the procedure  used.  Basically, it will likely  involve the House 
simultaneously passing the Senate bill and a “patch bill” that  will incorporate 
the changes made during the negotiations.  That “patch bill” will have to 
be passed  in the Senate (before or after the House acts) through the “
budget  reconciliation” process that is not subject to filibuster.   
Members do not need to worry that this will be viewed as “jamming” the  
bill through.  Any bill that is  passed by a majority of both houses is not “
jammed” through.  It is passed through a democratic  process.  What is 
undemocratic is  the 60-vote filibuster rule that allows a minority to thwart the 
will of the  majority. 
And from a political point of  view, no one ever remembers the “procedures”
 that were used to pass a major  piece of legislation anyway.  It  will 
ultimately be evaluated based only on the impact it has on real people’s  lives 
in the real world. 
While we’re at it, let’s forget  all the talk about a “scaled-back” bill 
of “market reforms.”  If you ban the use of pre-existing  conditions to 
deny care – which is the main market reform – without requiring  everyone to 
have insurance, you encourage people to wait until they are sick to  get 
health insurance.  If that were  to happen, the price of insurance would 
skyrocket, and even fewer people yet  would buy insurance until they needed it.  
The effect would be a vicious cycle of rising premiums, and fewer and  fewer 
people with coverage. 
To have insurance “market  reforms” everyone must be covered.  To assure 
that, we have to provide subsidies and regulate insurance  companies to make 
sure that insurance is affordable.  That means you need comprehensive  
reform.  
The leadership of the House and Senate – and the President – are all  
committed to finishing health care reform.  Now, each and every Member needs to 
look carefully at his or her own  political self-interest and figure out a 
way to get it done.  And while they’re thinking, they need to  think about 
how their grandchildren will feel one day, if they are on the wrong  side of 
history.  
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and  strategist, and 
author of the recent book:  “Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win,” 
available on _Amazon.com._ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213241439&sr=8-
1) 

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