| Let's review where we're at:
We started this process with you saying, basically, "I'm not going to make the same mistake that Clinton made sixteen years ago: I'll let Congress write the bills so that it isn't coming down from the White House".
Congress went and wrote a bunch of bills. Most of them pretty much sucked. They then went ahead and passed two of the bills that sucked the worst.
We're now at the "conference" phase. They're supposed to take those two sucky bills and create one bill that can pass both Houses. The conference output should only include components of each bill and should represent a "compromise" between the visions of the two Houses.
That all about right? OK.
You said early on that you wanted to take a hands-off approach. Fine. That was your prerogative. But, know what? It failed. Like I said, sucky bills and all that.
So now, it's time to be completely hands-on. Your Presidency depends on it; everybody calls this Obamacare. If it fails, you look stupid. If it isn't popular, you loose all your political clout. If people loathe it, you'll loose both Houses in ten or so months. You think life is rough now? Just wait until you've got Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader DeMint barking at you.
I know, I know, didn't work out that badly for Bill. But times are different. For all that the VRWC attacked him, right now, they're looking civil compared to today's Republicans.
So: again, conference, two sucky bills, need an output, you need to be involved or you're going to be seen as a failed and one-term President. So here's what you do:
You write the bill. Screw the conference committee. You allowed the twerps on the Hill to futz around for the first year of your Presidency and this is what they did to you.
Make it the best damned bill you can. Cherry pick the best from both pieces of legislation. Rewrite it where you think you can ram it down their throats (I know you're not supposed to do that, but I think the law on that is at least a little hazy).
I'm using the Kaiser Family Foundation comparison to look at the two bills. Here's the rub: what does "cherry pick" mean?
There are a hundred thousand people who will each give you a different opinion. Me? I'd follow a couple rules:
- Sooner is better than later for benefits to kick in-- help people understand what they are getting from this.
- More subsidies are better than fewer. Same reason.
- Less penalties are better than more. Same coin, other side.
- Finesse the cost containment piece. Me? I want more-- because I think that this whole effort is a failure if we don't "bend the curve". But one man's cost containment is another man's rationing-- you're going to piss more people off for each treatment you deny than please people for each dollar you save.
- Simplify. Wherever possible, simplify. Make it harder to demonize.
- Get rid of state specific giveaways. They're wrong. We all know it; that's why they've made such a splash in the press. May have been necessary during negotiations, but you win more than you loose by taking credit for getting rid of them
- Choice... here's the really tough part. Like most on the left, I'm pro choice. Maybe not as rabidly as I was when I was younger, but it's still an important issue for me (and many others). But-- you may be stuck with some sort of anti-choice language, given that it appears in both bills. But you also ought to "get" something for this. The anti-choice lobby can't have it both ways. They can't be loud and denounce pro-choice politicians (and deny them full religious participation) and then be silent on this bill if it continues to contain anti-choice language. The quo pro for having anti-choice language in the bill is that the anti-choice lobby has to do a full-court press to help get the final bill passed.
OK. You've now written the "final" bill. You've given it to the conference committee. You've done this all quietly and behind the scenes. They say "thanks for your input, buddy; we'll go do what we want now". This is where you close the doors to the Oval Office and give them the best stern gaze that you can muster. Along with the conferees, Pelosi and Reid need to be in the room.
Pause a bit, tell them that you're picking your words carefully. Then you need to say something like this:
"Here's how it's going to go. You're going to take the bill and both Houses will pass it within a week. Post it to the internet, do the best full transparency you can, but pass it verbatim. This bill IS my Presidency right now and I can't afford to have you guys f--k it up. Again.
"I know that some of your members aren't going to like it. I know that in the Senate, especially, you've got a bunch of prima donas who all think that they need to have their pet clauses in it. Screw 'em. Screw 'em all.
"That's the attitude that has brought us to the brink. This bill is bigger than any one member of the Congress. We need to do this or we fail. All of us. You'll loose enough members that we'll loose both Houses. I'll loose my ability to govern. Democrats won't be given the keys to these offices again for maybe a decade. Maybe more.
"They talk about motivation being carrot and stick. I'm done with carrots. I let you guys hand them out and all that happened was a big stinking mess of poo. So it's stick time.
"Anyone who votes against this bill looses everything. Committee chairmanships, membership in key committees, office space, assistance from the DNC, the DCCC, and the DSCC, help from me. Everything.
"Help from me? Screw that. I'll campaign against them. I'll see they get an opponent in the primary and that she has twice the money they have. If my gal loses the primary, I'll even help the Republican. Because if you don't help me here, you're no good to me down the road."
OK. You've got the final bill and you've lined up the Congress to make it clear that it gets passed. Next step: you need to do a helluva better job selling to the American People than you have done so far.
Sir, people out here-- we still like you. Most of us, anyways. Never mind the approval ratings dip. What you need is a full-on campaign mode: you, Joe, Michele, everyone you can get. You need to travel to all the states and make sure you get on all the newscasts. I think you have something like three speeches you need to have written so that you can deliver the appropriate one in different places:
- It's the right thing to do speech. Play up the historic nature of the bill and the moral imperative to pass it. Talk about people and how they're hurting without it. This speech goes in Democratic strongholds.
- It's good for you speech. Play on people's fears of being lost without healthcare. Describe how others have gone from upper middle class to bankrupt because they loose their health, their job, their healthcare, their homes. Talk about how this will protect their kids. This is the soccer mom/suburbia speech.
- It's good for business speech. Talk about how the bill will bend the curve. Talk about how American businesses can't afford the rise in healthcare costs. Talk about how American car manufacturers are at a disadvantage with respect to their foreign competitors. Use this speech in Republican areas.
Finally, start planning on how to improve this sucky stinky pile of poo. In the end, you and I both think that single payer is the way to go-- or at least I think that and you've said it. So how do we get there from here?
Well, for starters, stop calling it single payer. It's Medicare for all. So call it that.
The first step towards Medicare for all is a robust public option. But don't call it that. Call it the Medicare buy-in for anyone.
That-- the fact that it is the first step towards Medicare for all-- mon President, is why there was so much opposition to the public option and Medicare buy-in.
How do you get it? Campaign on it. Make it known that the 2012 campaign will feature as one of the three premier issues the question of whether a Medicare buy-in for anyone should be added to the healthcare bill.
Do that, and you'll win over a lot of fence sitters on the Left. And maybe even some of the people on the Left who are spitting mad.
Can I promise you this plan will work? We're both adults and we both know that life is like a box of chocolates. Some taste good and others are just sucky stinky piles of brown poo.
But I really believe that if you don't follow a plan more or less like this one, that it's pretty much all downhill from here for your Presidency, sir.
Good luck. Hope this little pep talk has given you something to think about. |
