Dear Mr. Ross - Please Return The Favor

[babylonsister]

Dear Mr. Ross - Please Return The Favor

by publius


As I’ve noted, the Blue Dogs currently benefit from the Democratic Party’s institutional commitment to health care — both nationally and locally. Nationally, this commitment has helped elevate the Dems into the majority, which benefits every member of the caucus. Health care is a key part of the national brand, and it has strengthened party identification, loyalties, etc. for years.

Locally, health care gets individual Dems elected. Better health care is one of those rare issues (like Social Security) that Democrats can (and do) run on in every district in all 50 states. The strength of the “franchise's” reputation on this issue helps local candidates everywhere.

What’s annoying then is that the Blue Dogs aren’t returning the favor. They’re accepting the benefits of the party’s reputation on health care, while refusing to help build and maintain that reputation. It’s essentially the Little Red Hen problem — they want to eat the bread, but don’t want to help make it.

Take Mike Ross (D-AR) — the Blue Dog point man on coverage reform. Granted, he’s from a conservative district (McCain won 58-39). And no one’s expecting him to toe the party line on every issue. But health care is different. Ross has benefited directly from the party's commitment to, and reputation on, health coverage reform. In fact, as I show below, he explicitly ran on health care in 2000 when he narrowly unseated Republican Jay Dickey (see below).

The point of the excerpts below is to show the value of the party’s health care reputation even to conservative Blue Dog Mike Ross. It helped him win. Yet now, when he’s got a chance to actually deliver, he’s choosing to drag the party down in a needlessly ostentatious way.

It’s not even the substance of the disagreement that most bothers me, but the manner. The Blue Dogs could rock the DC media establishment — and give Obama an enormous boost — by coming out this week and declaring that reform will happen hell or highwater. They have agency, and they could choose to negotiate with carrots rather than sticks. They could be the heroes in arguably the most important legislative debate of our generation.

Instead, the preferred narrative — “we’ll go home you big liberals” — has fed Republican critiques and frames, and it’s threatening to drag the whole thing down.

more...

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/07/dear-mr-ross-please-return-the-favor.html

[Rex]

1. There are Dems who don't give two shits about the working class

not until election time, then they care for a few months. If that. ALL Repukes are that way, cept they don't care, ever. They just fake it.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Publius is writing again? man, that cat has a looong lifespan...

:D :hi:


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