Now, let's clobber 'em on the economy

What a week. Health care reform is the law of the land, perhaps against all odds when you consider how the whole thing played out. But it's done, and it is turning out to be a game changer. The GOP is on the ropes again, which is not surprising since the party went hand-in-hand with its most extreme elements. The threats of violence and open use of the most offensive, derogatory terms led the Republicans nowhere, and the lies they spread about the issue will continue to haunt them into the fall campaign.

For Democrats, the victory is sweet and will no doubt last. But it's time to look ahead with how we can build on this momentum. Jobs and financial reform are the most obvious routes. By spending the rest of the year focused on economic issues, Democrats will have the best chance of holding and or gaining seats in Congress in November.

Health Care: Pass the Senate Bill, Pronto

It's time to get this over with, guys. The Senate's bill is far less than it could have been, but it will provide the framework we need to develop the elements we've had to leave out.

But going back to square one is not an option if Democrats want to reform the health care system in any meaningful way. Here's what we need to do:

First, start talking about health care reform as the economic issue that it is. People, who are rightly concerned about cost, are having a hard time believing that reform is deficit neutral (or a little better). But if you own a house whose roof is leaking, it certainly costs more to wait or let it leak, destroying your furniture and other belongings, than it does to replace it now. Yet that is what is happening with health care in our country right now. People are experiencing hefty increases in their health insurance premiums. My parents recently found out their monthly premiums would increase from $900 to $1,250. That's $350 a month not powering the nation's economic recovery. Factor in the ripple effect across the country, and it's clear that we can have both health care reform and economic growth. Long term, it;s the responsible thing to do.

Second, weak-kneed Democrats in Congress have been watching as polls show falling levels of support for reform. It's helpful to remember that the teabaggers and Republicans have been against this from the start, so the increasing opposition can't be coming from them. The process of compromise as the bill has been drafted has turned off progressive Dems and independents. I believe they are likely in the end to support the Senate bill. Health care reform is a defining issue for Democrats. If we walk away from what we have so far, it could be another decade or two before another chance at significant reform comes around. The Senate bill beats the status quo by far.

How to Beat John Thune in Three Easy Steps

Kevin Woster’s story in the Oct. 18 Rapid City Journal points out that nobody has stepped forward to challenge junior senator John Thune in next year’s election. And although there’s still time for Democrats to put forth a credible candidate, I’ll admit I’d been thinking that someone would have come forward by now. After all, the Republican Party is the weakest it’s been in a generation, and last fall’s Democratic high tide is still running quite fervently, even if the MSM wants you to think there’s an actual horse race going on between the parties.

Still, young Johnny Thunderbird has had that whiff of mystique about him since he so unceremoniously dispatched Tom Daschle in 2004. (And don’t think we’ve forgotten the tactics that you employed then, J.T.) In any case, Thune has that aura about him, although he is not as safe politically as he and the media would have you think.

So to any potential Democratic challenger(s) (Eric Abrahamson, anyone?), here is a three-point plan for taking Thune down next November.

1. Hammer on his TARP vote. You might recall the fall of 2008, when George W. Bush--a Republican--was president, and the economy collapsed. The banking system was at risk of failure, and Our Senator Thune declared that a bailout was necessary because the system was “too big to fail.” I found this to be an odd statement from a man who had long dubbed himself a free-market conservative. It was not free-market in that Thune was calling for the government to intervene in the economy, and it wasn’t conservative in that it involved spending a pantload of taxpayers' money. In spite of his constituents’ vociferous objections, Our Senator Thune explained rather condescendingly to us rural yokels that we just didn’t understand the economics of the situation. But I think many of us came to understand that he had become an opportunistic hack for the GOP, rather than a voice for South Dakota.

2. Frame what Thune calls uncontrolled Democratic spending for what it is—an overdue investment in America. Remind people why the economic stimulus package he voted against was necessary. It was John Boy Thune and his Republicans asleep at the switch as our economy toppled dangerously close to Depression. The Democrats’ stimulus, which by design is only just starting to take effect, is pulling us out of the recession as you read this. Recovery is under way, and Thune voted against it. Then ask how he can defend bailing out banks but not regular folks like us out here losing our jobs. And then ask why our nation’s health care system isn’t “too big to fail.” Ask why when real people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake, his free-market ideology kicks in again. Tell him that fixing the health care system puts a significant portion of the economy on stable, sustainable footing. These are investments, not wasteful spending. That kind of irresponsibility ended the day Bush left the White House and the GOP was reduced to the dust bunny it is today.

3. Already, Thune is representing his party more than his constituents. He has always assumed that South Dakota is a Republican state. And that is his Achilles heel. First, the electorate has shifted over the past few years. Recent surveys are showing that South Dakota is leaning more and more Democratic. The Republican Party nationwide is weak, and S.D. is no exception. Second, Thune assumes that if he takes care of Republican issues, he’s taking care of his constituents, which is simply lazy. On a range of issues, such as the environment and energy (it’s never been this cool to be green) people are shifting toward Democratic positions. Same with health care. Aside from the shouting, teabagging zealots that make up the shrinking base of the GOP, real people--even many conservative ones--are seeing the need for reforming the nation’s health care system. With health care eating up 20 percent of the nation’s GDP, it’s an issue of economics as much as it is of health care. But Thune only sees it as an issue of doing the opposite of what the Democrats are doing. That’s pretty simplistic of him, but that’s what we’ve come to expect. As Thune moves up the chain of command in the GOP, South Dakotans will get less and less out of him. Johnny, you’re the Senate Republicans’ No.4, but you’ll always be number two to me!

Krugman on Education

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's column earlier this week (read it here) stuck in my head because of this one line: "for the past 30 years our political scene has been dominated by the view that any and all government spending is a waste of taxpayer dollars."

I think that's an accurate statement, and the column's point that the standard of education in the U.S. is slipping because of inadequate funding is certainly valid. We see how even something like the recent stimulus law, which was encouraged by leading economists, is derided as a waste of money. The stimulus was a necessary investment in the nation's economy, just like health-insurance reform will be and just like bolstering the nation's education system would be.

The past 30 years of historically low taxes seem to have skewed people's idea of government spending. Investing in the country isn't socialism or even socialistic. It's civic responsibility, and the duty of every American.

Congrats on the Nobel, Mr. President

Well, while Republicans were still high-fiving each other because Chicago—the president’s hometown—would not get to host the Olympics, Obama was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at GOP headquarters when that bomb got dropped. I’ll bet there were some pants filled.
Obama’s Nobel is well-deserved in spite of what the Republicans want you to think. A Nobel certainly isn’t the Olympics, but it has much longer legacy.
Obama won the prize because he’s doing what a president is expected to do, and that’s lay out a sweeping vision and making as much of it happen as he can. People have complained that he’s over-reaching by taking on the ailing economy he inherited, comprehensive health-insurance reform, climate change legislation and more. But I think people got used to the low expectations we had for President Bush. He did little of long-term value, and his second term was devoid of any real accomplishments.
Obama has accomplished more than Republicans want you to remember. His election extended a direct political bloodline that goes back the Martin Luther King Jr. and further to Abraham Lincoln. His election was the fulfillment of a promise that should give all Americans a lot more pride in their country. That alone is Nobel-worthy.
What Republicans need to do is to ask themselves why their worldview is so out of step. At some point, the party needs to do a self-examination.
After years of whining that the cards are stacked against you, that the media is against you, that Europe is against you, and now, apparently, the world is against you, maybe it’s time to take a look inside and see that the conservative philosophy has failed you, and will continue to fail you because it isolates people.

It's Not Every Day the CBO Gives You a Good Laugh

But I couldn't help but giggle when the news came out the CBO's estimate of the costs of the Baucus health care bill came back under estimates AND with the added benefit that it would lower the deficit over the long haul. Kind of goes against the GOP storyline that Democrats' spending would bankrupt the country. Instead, health insurance reform looks like the wise investment it really is.

With the CBO scoring the bill so favorably, I can't see how real health insurance reform won't happen. The less apparent and more important thing, though, is that this exponentially increases the chance of a robust public option being included in the final bill. The Baucus bill is deficient on that point, but we now have a bill that can get through the Senate and eventually be merged with House legislation that does include a strong public insurance option.

It's been a beautiful mess, but it'll be worth it.