OneOnlineCommunity Writer Dave Mishur

EDITORIAL by Dave Mishur

President Obama has called for the use of a tactic called “Reconciliation” to get his version of health care reform rammed through Congress. Reconciliation is, at best, a blunt instrument, designed to nullify, through a series of parliamentary maneuvers, the need for a 60-vote plurality in the Senate, and substitute a simple majority instead.

This caveman-style club has been considered before, most famously by President Bill Clinton, who could have used it for his, or rather, Hillary’s version of a health care bill. He was dissuaded from this by West Virginia’s Senator Byrd, who regarded it a grave misuse of power. Byrd, who has been in the Senate since Abraham Lincoln‘s time, ought to know, as he has reputedly penned a four-volume compendium of the Senate‘s traditions and peculiar rules of conduct.

Apparently, President Obama hasn’t read Byrd’s books, as he has indicated his intention to move things forward by bending the Senate’s own rules. In short, he has lost patience with the democratic process and wants the thing done and over with -- now!

In a manifesto revealing his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, Obama declared “Every argument has been made. Everything there is to say about health care has been said, and just about everybody has said it.” Or, in the words of the famous University of Chicago law professor he once was, “case closed.”

While it may be true that an awful lot has been said about health care, it seems very few people have been listening. That’s how you get to 2700 pages. It seems Congress needs a good editor, if they can find one who would be willing to work under such hazardous conditions. Perhaps he could begin by chopping out all the sweet deals given to various states, unions, and other special interest groups in an effort to sell this bitter pill.

But to say “everything has been said” sounds a lot like another guy who has been insisting that “the science is settled” with regard to climate change. And just as former Senator Gore ought to wake up and smell reality, Obama needs to point a damp finger upwards and determine which way the wind is blowing. “This will take bravery” commented Speaker of the House Pelosi. We can thing of better words. “Idiocy” for one; or perhaps “stupidity.” “Political suicide” may be the result.

But Obama doesn’t care. “I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it’s right.” There’s that old professor again. He knows what he knows and what he knows he knows is right. One can’t dispute such circuitous logic. “The fact is that health care only works if you take care of all these problems at once.” And there’s that old manifesto spirit at work again. Former professors are great ones for spouting forth such incontrovertible statements like “the only way” to do this or that.

But something called reality, in the form of the American populace, begs to differ. This 2700 page monstrosity that no one has read is not “the only way.”

Yet, Obama is not to be deterred, nor denied this opportunity for a glowing role in history. Rather than re-introduce the subject in both houses of congress, thereby risking the insertion of genuinely bipartisan thought, he prefers to ram through a bill with “Democrat-only” stamped on it, a bill whose consequences in real life are as yet unknown.

Although he has made a bow in the general direction of the opposition party, the legislation under consideration has no Republican flavor to it. “I like the idea that the president is working with Republicans and trying to find common ground” said Democrat Mark Pryor, of Arkansas. “I think that’s what the American people want to see.” (Don’t you just love it when one person, even a duly elected one, presumes to tell you what “the American People” want?)

But Republican leader, John Boehner, sees it otherwise. “You can’t add a couple of Republican sprinkles on top of a 2700 page bill and call it bipartisan.” There needs to be genuine and hearty discussion on the various issues that the Republicans see as essential to make this thing work, issues like portability, ability to purchase coverage across state lines, and most of all, tort reform so doctors can actually practice medicine, instead of legal defense.

The president’s “all or nothing” approach reminds one of the famous “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” school of thought. It’s an attempt at heroism. But it’s also a good way to sink a ship. And that would be a shame, especially with 59 Senators on board.

E-Mail Dave Mishur: Dave.Mishur@OneOnlineCommunity.com

Opinions and views are of Dave Mishur.