Another day, another poll showing that the message of the Massachusetts massacre was that Obama and the Democrats need to go further on health care and opposing corporations, and that most people like the public option and would be more likely to vote against someone who tried to kill it. Less than a week later, President Obama leaps into action with… a spending freeze:
In his budget for Fiscal Year 2011, to be presented on Monday, February 1, President Obama will propose a three-year hard freeze on non-security discretionary spending, to last from 2011 through 2013.
This will save $250 billion over the next decade, senior administration officials told reporters. (The debt during that same period is projected to grow by $9 trillion.) By 2015, non-security discretionary spending will be at its lowest level as a component of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product in 50 years.
Wait… what? That’s the message Obama took away from MA? A spending freeze? Not “more jobs,” or “make health care reform not suck”? Okay, it’s more of a cap than a freeze, but it’s still a lot more likely to make employment and the economy worse than better. Of course, backing Ben Bernanke for re-confirmation doesn’t really help employment much either.
And on the legislative side, where they’re finally talking about budget reconciliation again? Is Congress heeding the clarion call for a public option, or working to remove the hideously unpopular excise tax? Uh, not so much…
According to Politico, the potential reconciliation measure contains six major components:
- An increase in the Medicare payroll tax for the rich
- More cuts to Medicare Advantage
- The special excise tax deal for unions
- Small increases in affordability tax credits
- A fix for the Nebraska Medicaid deal
- Closing the Medicare Part D donut hole by 2019
So instead of trying to fix the bill, Congress is apparently determined to leave its suckiness inviolate. (#3 is especially brilliant, as it would make everyone hate Democrats and unions) They have forgotten that:
A) They only need 50 votes to pass a measure through reconciliation, so it doesn’t matter if the Sabotage Caucus of Lieberman, Nelson, Bayh, Lincoln and Landrieu doesn’t like it, and:
B) There are 65 progressive Representatives who have already signed a letter pledging to vote against any health care reform bill without a public option. Although it sure would be a big help if they would recognize that “when you have leverage” is the absolute worst possible time to waffle.
Last week I was hopeful that the Democrats’ peek into the abyss had finally shaken them up in a way that progressive petitions and protestations never could, but it appears that the effects were far too fleeting, and now they’ve gone back to rearranging deck chairs.
It’s truly amazing. The American people spoke up loud and clear, saying, “We want health care reform. We want a public option. We want jobs. We want someone to take our side against Wall Street. We want the change we were promised.”
And the Democrats responded, “We can’t hear you… kcchhkktt… you’re – ksshk – breaking up… kkrrkk… We’re going into a tunnelkrrccchhhkkttttcckk!”
