President Obama released his thoughts on healthcare reform in preparation of the scheduled bi-partisan healthcare forum that he is calling together on February 25^th at Blair House. In it legislators of both parties are invited to sit down and discuss their proposals for healthcare reform. This was in addition to the sit down that Obama had at the Congressional GOP caucus meeting following the Scott Brown election in Massachusetts. During it, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) presented the President with the outline of the Republican healthcare proposals. Prior to that, several meetings with both sets of leadership from the House and Senate were held.

Through all of these meetings, President Obama remained unaware of Republican healthcare proposals. These proposals (outlined at http://www.gop.gov/download?folder=misc&file=better-solutions-1-10.pdf) include proposals addressing the primary concerns of Americans - cost, pre-existing conditions, and the ability to keep health insurance regardless of where one works. The President stated time and again that the only proposals that he was aware of were the ones proposed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. You would think that there would be someone with a computer at the White House checking out what the opposition might be up to.

Making all of this more entertaining was President Obama's lack of directing the debate among the Democrats. To the consternation of Reid and Pelosi, the President did not make his desires clear to the Democratic leadership, which led to the unseemly horse-trading that cast the whole process as corrupt. 

On top of all of this was the unruly mob that was the everyday citizenry of the United States, who saw both the proposals and the corruption involved and just said "NO."

President Obama could have walked away at this point. The Congressional leadership, except for Rep. Pelosi, was looking to the 2010 mid-terms and getting re-elected. Senator Reid had spent all of his political capital tilting at this windmill, and though he succeeded in bringing the Senate along by hook and crook, he stands to lose his entire political career on the backroom shenanigans. It could have been a good opportunity for the Administration to hit that famous Reset button, use the lessons learned and get to work in a more inclusive fashion on this and other issues. Alas, that was not to be.

President Obama did pick up the reigns of leadership in presenting his ideas on healthcare reform, be it a day late and a dollar short. We received the proposal in full and were pleased with it's length at only eleven pages. It would be a much easier read that the 2000 page proposed packages from either the Senate or the House. We do think that the Republicans will be less than supportive of the proposal though.

Within minutes of the document's release Republican leaders Rep. John Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell blasted the proposal and demanded to go back to the drawing board and start anew. One could easily be put off by such a forceful response in such a short time. A careful study of the document took a good half-hour in research at TPP. We can only imagine that the Republican leadership had some idea of what was coming down the pike. When we did conclude our look at the proposal, we had a tendency to allow the Republicans their bluster.

We had expected a carefully crafted policy paper, taking into account both the proposed legislation already cobbled together, as well as the negative reaction of both the Republicans and the general population of the United States. Instead, the proposal reads like a campaign talking point memo or a high school term paper. This may be a deliberate attempt to keep it simple. We can give points for that. The President did not include any public option language in his proposal. We can give credit there as well. The President also proposes negating the infamous deal with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. Not so much credit there – that was just a no-brainer. There is no mention of canceling out the sweetheart deals for Senator Mary Landrieu (the “Louisiana Purchase”), or the one that Harry Reid helped himself to for Nevada. Other than that, the proposals just split the difference between the Senate and House bills, and trumpet how this way is much better than either of them. This claim is supported by graphs and numbers (you can see it at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/Issues/health-Care) Going over the details on a point by point basis, each item was covered in one or both of the proposed bills. Other than the implied caving on public option, there are no sops tossed out to the Republicans.

The Obama Administration has been accused, even on these pages, of not doing it's homework. Thia applies to policy (Guantanamo Bay, military tribunals, climate change, even the bid to bring the Olympics to Chicago) as well as errors in speeches (such as the automobile being invented in America). This was not a simple case of being unprepared. This was the equivalent of a second year law student falling behind in his work, plagiarizing a couple of term papers on the net, cramming them together and claiming credit for an insight not held by others. At best, it implies that the Administration has still not graduated out of campaign mode, where a well delivered speech and some feel-good jargon makes the poll numbers better. At worst, it reflects a slacker mentality - getting by on looks and charm, but not having any real talent and making no real contribution. The American public deserves better.  

Boehner and McConnell are smart to be wary of this upcoming forum on healthcare. In their initial response to the proposed meeting they sent a letter on behalf of the GOP caucus requesting an agenda. Rumors had been swirling about of the majority just ramming the Senate bill through using the “reconciliation” tactic. Reconciliation is normally reserved for budget passage to keep the government operating – it requires only 51 votes in the Senate, and is not subject to filibuster. It was a concern that the GOP presence would only be window dressing for a done deal. Boehner and McConnell sought assurances that there would be good faith negotiations, and that GOP proposals would be seriously considered. The letter remains unanswered to date. The letter may be viewed at the above link for Better Solutions.

Common Sense Dictates

The Obama Administration has been given a pass on it’s rookie mistakes. They have been in office now for over a year, so rookie season is over. For a time, the President’s party had a supermajority, and could not cobble together a healthcare package that the majority of Americans could support. Now, with the supermajority gone, it appears that Obama still wants to take a run at doing this his way. That is his right. It does bring to mind the last President who lost his presidency by not adapting his policies to meet the realities of the day. That would be Bush the First, turned out of office for being so out of touch with what America cared about.

It is also the prerogative of Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid to jump off the cliff with the Administration. For all intents and purposes Mr. Reid already has. The conscience of every elected representative is his or her own, and each will do as conscience dictates.

An often quoted political law is that there is no point in killing someone who is in the middle of committing suicide. If  assurances are made that this meeting is to be a legitimate forum for negotiation, it would do the Republicans well to make their case at it. If those assurances are not received, then there is little point in the Republicans attending. They would do better getting the word out on their own proposals, and how those proposals are in agreement with the American people’s priorities. A bipartisan forum is only bipartisan if competing views are held up to equal scrutiny, and examined with equal care. From this examination, judgment may be made as to what the best course of action is. That judgment is reserved not to the administration or to the legislature, but to the American people. Without that, we are just talking dueling soundbites.

RLB