Americans still want health-care reform

Americans still want health-care reform
By Ezra Klein
COPYRIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON POST
February 10, 2010; 10:38 AM ET
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/americans_still_want_health-ca.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

So, 63 percent of Americans -- that's enough to break a filibuster, you know -- think Congress should keep on trying to pass a comprehensive health-care plan. It turns out that "even Republicans are critical of their congressional leadership, with 44 percent seeing them as doing too little to strike deals with Obama." Only 13 percent of Democrats say Obama has been too slow to strike deals with Republicans.

I like Kevin Drum's take on this: "The Fox News wing of the Republican Party obviously isn't in the mood for compromise," he writes, "but this is a reminder that there's still a quieter, non-Fox wing that would like to see some things get done." I like his take, but I don't know that it's meaningful. Midterm elections are a game of base mobilization. What Republicans understand is twofold: First, blocking Obama's major legislative initiatives will amp their base. Second, blocking Obama's major legislative initiatives will depress the Democratic base. Add that to the natural tilt of midterm elections (toward conservative seniors, away from liberal youngsters) and you've got a pretty good midterm strategy.

The answer for Democrats, of course, is that they need to get their people back in the game, and that means making them feel like their team might actually win. No one stays till the ninth inning when it seems that their side has stopped trying to catch up. So c'mon, Democrats. You know what you need to do.

Pass. The. Bill. And keep looking like you want to be bipartisan while you do it.