Robert Reich’s Rx for Passing Universal Health Care

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

When one political party has committed itself to obstructionism and preserving the status quo, forget them. They have no intention of bargaining in good faith, and publicly proclaim that they want the president to fail for purely partisan political advantage. President Obama does not need a single "disloyal oppositon" Republican vote to pass health care reform. (It may proceed under a budget reconciliation requiring only a majority vote in the Senate. Republicans alone cannot filibuster health care reform.) Steamroll the opposition.

President Obama has to kick the tail of some blue dog Democratic senators who care more about their campaign contributors and their spouse's well paid positions on the boards of health care companies and lobbying firms than they do about the best interests of the American people. President Obama needs to remind these blue dog Democratic senators that they can be replaced, that he can campaign for their primary opponent, and as the titular head of the Democratic Party, he can "recommend" turning off the spigot of DNC and DSCC campaign money and staff. Let's play hard ball.

When three out of four Americans want a public health care option and are willing to pay more taxes to get it, Congress would be wise to listen and to give the American people what they want. Congress ignores the will of the American people at its own peril.

Health care reform is now the case of The American People vs. the U.S. Senate, so President Obama must rally the American people into a mass movement to overcome the institutional intransigence of "the world's greatest deliberative body" (i.e., all talk and no action.)

This is the legislative battle of this generation which must be waged like LBJ did to obtain passage of Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act (over the objection of his own conservative Southern Democrats). It's time to go old school on their ass.

I am embelishing on some of the recommendations made by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich in his piece in Salon Memo to President Obama:

If you want to save universal healthcare, you must do several things, and soon:

1. Go to the nation. You're not only a powerful orator; you're also capable of motivating, energizing, and mobilizing the American public. You must go on the road — building public support by forcefully making the case for universal health care everywhere around the country. The latest Wall Street Journal poll shows that three out of four Americans want universal healthcare. But the vast majority don't know what's happening on the Hill, don't know how much money the medical-industrial lobbies are spending to defeat it, and have no idea how much demagoguery they're about to be exposed to. You must tell them. And don't be reluctant to take on those vested interests directly. Name names. They've decided to fight you. You must fight them.

2. Be LBJ. So far, Lyndon Johnson has been the only president to defeat the American Medical Association and the rest of the medical-industrial complex. He got Medicare and Medicaid despite their cries of "socialized medicine" because he knocked heads on the Hill. He told Congress exactly what he wanted, cajoled and threatened those who resisted, and counted noses every hour until he had the votes he needed. When you're not on the road, you have to be twisting congressional arms and drawing a line in the sand. Be tough.

3. Forget the Republicans. Forget bipartisanship. Universal healthcare can pass with 51 votes. You can get 51 votes if you give up on trying to persuade a handful of Republicans to cross over. Eight years ago George W. Bush passed his huge tax cut, mostly for the wealthy, by wrapping it in an all-or-nothing reconciliation measure and daring Democrats to vote against it. You should do the same with healthcare.

4. Insist on a real public option. It's the lynchpin of universal healthcare. It's one thing to give up on single payer, and say that a public option is the best feasible alternative. But further compromise would essentially gut any healthcare plan. Don't accept Kent Conrad's ersatz public option masquerading as a "healthcare cooperative." Cooperatives won't have the authority, scale, or leverage to negotiate low prices and keep private insurers honest.

5. Demand that taxes be raised on the wealthy to ensure that all Americans get affordable healthcare. Not even a real public option will hold down costs enough to make healthcare affordable to most American families in years to come. So you'll need to tax the wealthy. Don't back down on your original proposal to limit their deductions. And support a cap on how much employee-provided healthcare can be provided tax free. Yes, you opposed this during your campaign. But you have no choice but to reverse yourself on this. These are the only two big pots of money.

6. Put everything else on hold. As important as they are, your other agenda items — financial reform, home mortgage mitigation, cap-and-trade legislation — pale in significance relative to universal healthcare. By pushing everything at once, you take the public's mind off the biggest goal, diffuses your energies, blur your public message, and fuel the demagogues who say you're trying to take over the private sector. You have to win this.