The Public Wants Health Reform

The Democrats are cowering.  They are panicking.  They are so freaked out by Scott Brown's election that they are becoming somewhat irrational and interpreting the election in the wrong way.  They think the country has lost its energy for health reform.  But they are wrong.  And if they don't figure it out soon, they will likely face very serious consequences in November.  The fact is that the public still wants health reform and they trust Democrats more than Republicans on the subject.  This has just been confirmed in a Washington Post poll.  You can find the story here.  The bottom line is that nearly two thirds of those polled (and 56% of independents!) want Congress and the President to keep working to pass health reform.  See the poll results below. 

And when it comes to which party is doing more to compromise with the other - Obama trounces the Republicans.  About half of those polled believe Obama is doing about the right amount to compromise (and the same amount felt he is doing too little).  But only 30% believe Republicans are doing the right amount and 58% believe Republicans are not doing enough.  See these results below. 

The point is that not much has changed other than an election in Massachusetts.  And even the Brown folks acknowledge that the election had as much to do with terrorism (Brown effectively used the Christmas attempted plane bombing incident and Obama's insistence on civil (and not military) trials, to stir up fears) as it did with health reform.  (For my sober analysis of the election, read here.)  The House should wake up and pass the Senate bill.  That is the quickest way of getting this done and starting down the path of meaningful reform.  The problems with the bill can and will be fixed when cooler heads prevail.  In time, the many benefits of the bill will come to light more clearly and these Dems will have something good to run on.  Keep hope alive!