Change? You can believe it: Obama delivers
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Scott who?
Republican Sen. Scott Brown's historic win in Massachusetts earlier this year was supposed to be the death knell of health care reform in America. The Democrats were supposed to slink into a corner, bemoaning the loss of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat along with its magical filibuster-proof 60th vote.
Suddenly, Republicans who had been previously mocked for their inability to adapt to the new electoral reality were lauded for rallying back from the brink of extinction. They may have been the minority party after being turned out of office in two previous national elections, but they still had game. Republicans were willing to dictate the terms of national debate because the Democrats were too spooked to govern.
Overnight, the Democrats watched their biggest-ever Senate majority become the second-biggest, leaving many of them panic-stricken. There were whispers within the Democratic caucus of abandoning President Barack Obama's biggest domestic priority altogether if the White House didn't agree to start the health care debate from scratch as the Republicans demanded.
If you were looking for profiles in courage among the Democrats in January and February, you would have been out of luck. The mainstream media embraced a new narrative: health care reform was dead and conservatives were in the ascendancy, thanks to tea party candidates and once-long-shot Republicans energized by Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts.
But there were plenty of folks who weren't buying the new conventional wisdom. Fortunately, President Obama understood that his presidency was on the line and that equivocating on health care reform for the sake of a few illusory Republican votes was a tactical dead end.
Suddenly, Mr. Obama took ownership of the process and decamped from Washington in a campaign-style barnstorming effort across several states. In doing so, he reclaimed the fiery rhetoric of the 2008 campaign, reminding us -- and himself -- of why we voted for him.
He also listened to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who demanded that he help her lobby the often fractious House Democrats. It was time to play hardball with a caucus that had often proven itself allergic to party discipline.
In response to this unexpected show of Democratic spine, the Republicans mounted a ferocious media campaign designed to scare Democratic House members in swing districts -- like Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless.
First Published March 23, 2010 12:00 am
