Democrats on healthcare: going it alone or not?
| Washington
At first blush, it may seem the White House has been contradicting itself lately.
In The New York Times Wednesday, White House chief of staff that Democrats are now prepared to go it alone in passing healthcare legislation.
鈥淭he Republican leadership,鈥� he said, 鈥渉as made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama鈥檚 healthcare proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.鈥�
Yet White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that media reports were wrong.
鈥淲e continue to be hopeful that we can get bipartisan support鈥� for reform, said Mr. Gibbs, whose daily sparring with the press usually contains some version of 鈥渙ur strategy has not changed.鈥�
In all likelihood, the two men are engaging in creative ambiguity, designed to send signals to multiple audiences 鈥� friend and foe 鈥� and keep options open as long as possible. After all, as Gibbs himself pointed out, it鈥檚 still August. Crunch time for passing reform by the end of the year is still months away. The longer the White House is able to keep its options open, the greater its chances of settling on a firm position that can pass both houses of Congress.
At least that鈥檚 the ideal prospect for an Obama administration that is still in its opening act. Chances are, it wasn鈥檛 part of Mr. Obama鈥檚 plan to watch his poll numbers steadily slide as opponents of reform have seized public attention.
But history has shown that Obama can change course on a dime. That was the case last month in the flap over the arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., when Obama first said police had 鈥渁cted stupidly.鈥� The White House had said he had no more to say, then Obama changed his mind and held his famous beer summit when he realized his comment had only inflamed the situation.
Of course, the Cambridge dustup isn鈥檛 healthcare reform, Obama鈥檚 top domestic priority. But the M.O. may end up being similar. Already, indicates that the White House is 鈥渞ethinking鈥� how it is selling reform, and that come September, Obama will put more emphasis on what his supporters see as the 鈥渕oral imperative鈥� of insuring the uninsured.
Late Wednesday, Obama was to speak to a conference call of progressive religious activists, perhaps test-driving the new moral emphasis.
Meanwhile, facts on the ground indicate that bipartisanship is not completely dead. Sen. Max Baucus (D) of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and probably the most important congressional player on health reform at this point, said Wednesday that 鈥渂ipartisan progress continues.鈥� He noted that his bipartisan group of six committee negotiators will meet by telephone Thursday and that their staffs continue to meet.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R) of Wyoming, one of the six, also signaled continued willingness to work on legislation. In , he touted the proposal for healthcare 鈥渃ooperatives鈥� 鈥� an alternative to the so-called 鈥減ublic option鈥� of government-run health insurance that is anathema to Republicans and some Democrats.
Senator Enzi did so in the context of slamming the public option, which has emerged as a sine qua non of health reform for liberals, but at least he鈥檚 stopping short of decrying health insurance cooperatives as well.
When crunch time does arrive, the best-case scenario may be that the House passes reform containing the public option and the Senate passes a bill calling for creation of cooperatives 鈥� nonprofit entities that would give members bargaining power in the healthcare marketplace. Then the final negotiations would begin.
