Stare down red scare
By Ronald A. Klain
February 22 at 6:09 PM
... The biggest mistake Democrats could make would be to back away from bold ideas on health care, income inequality and climate change — believing that less compelling ideas can still rally voters while avoiding the “socialism” charge from the GOP. The party’s “realists” are unrealistic in thinking that any progressive policies will be spared the “socialism” label from the GOP, and wrong to worry that this label will do any more damage now than it has in the countless earlier failed efforts by Republicans to campaign on such fearmongering.
The experience of the Obama administration is illustrative. Consider President Barack Obama’s two most important domestic legislative achievements: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act. Both were carefully drafted by Clinton-era veterans working for Obama to gain bipartisan support. One-third of the Recovery Act was tax cuts, in part because Obama’s economic team recommended them but mostly because they believed it would bring the GOP on board. And inclusion of the high-speed rail plan in the act was pressed hard by Obama’s Republican transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, who thought it would appeal to his former GOP congressional colleagues.
Likewise, the Affordable Care Act was closely modeled on the health-care plan implemented by Republican Mitt Romney as Massachusetts governor. Like Romney’s plan, the ACA relied principally on private health insurance to expand coverage; in fact, Obama’s plan was developed in consultation with the experts who advised Romney. Additionally, the Obama White House held endless meetings with, and made key policy concessions to, major private-sector players such as the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. All of this was done with a central goal: mollify potential opponents and bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass it.
What happened? In the House, the Recovery Act and the ACA got a combined 465 Democratic votes — and zero Republicans ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-will-call-anything-socialism-democrats-might-as-well-go-big/2019/02/22/a78fca9a-354d-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html?utm_term=.b1d21dea5d80