http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/01/15/republicans-dont-need-to-run-on-repealing-the-whole-bill/Republicans Don’t Need To Run On Repealing The Whole Bill
By: Jon Walker Friday January 15, 2010 12:56 pm
President Obama wants to have a fight with the Republican who will run on repealing the whole health care bill. While I’m sure some Republicans in the deep red districts will run on that platform, I doubt the bulk of the Republican party will. I don’t think Obama will get the fight he claims to want. I suspect many Republicans will wisely run on repealing just the most unpopular parts, repealing the taxes, and against the very corrupt way the bill was written.
There is a history for this strategy. After the Republicans passed Medicare Part D, did Democrats run against it by saying they would repeal the whole thing? No, Democrats ran against the most unpopular parts and the clearly corrupt manner in which the bill was written. In fact, the Republicans can probably dust off every single talking point the Democrats used against Medicare Part D. All the corrupt deals Bush cut with PhRMA for the Medicare Part D bill were protected as part of Obama’s deal with them for this bill.
Republicans will probably run on repealing just the deeply unpopular provisions, like the individual mandate and the tax on health insurance benefits. We know those are winning messages because Obama campaigned on them in 2008.
The GOP might call the bill a bundle of corrupt promises masquerading as reform. They can point to the sweetheart deal for drug companies, the huge subsidies given to the private insurance companies, the deal cut with the hospitals, and the special carve-out for unions. Republicans will also be able to make a big deal about the lack of promised transparency and the many other broken promises from Obama about health care.
I can even picture Republicans attacking Democrats for passing a bill that lacks “Republican solutions” like tort reform and drug re-importation. Yes Republicans can now steal the mantle of being the party that supports drug re-importation because Obama killed in on the Senate floor. Some clever Republicans in bluer districts might even run a campaign on “fixing” the bill by removing all of the Democrats’ sweetheart deals and corporate giveaways.
Will Republicans actually be able to, or want to, deliver on promises like repealing the individual mandate or allowing drug re-importation? It is very unlikely, but that is not the point. The point is that it makes for great campaign fodder.
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Democrats allowed a handful of powerful special interests and conservative Democrats to kill all the most popular elements in the bill. The public option, Medicare buy-in, drug re-importation, repeal of the anti-trust exemption, cheaper drugs for Medicare with direct drug price negotiations were all removed.
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Health care reform is not unpopular because of attack campaigns against it. No amount attack commercials was able to really dent the strong support for a public option. The bill is unpopular because Democrats kept removing every popular idea from the bill. Democrats are driving themselves straight off a cliff. They need to change course. Having the President say the only thing the very unpopular bill needs to save Democrats in 2010 is a good PR campaign is not helping the party.
If Democrats insist on passing this bill, they should start by removing all the most unpopular components ripe for Republican attack. Then, Democrats need to turn around and pass additional health care measures that start helping lots of people now–not in the distant future. They need to prove right away that health care reform is a good thing for regular Americans to save themselves in 2010. Finally, in the next few months, Democrats should take all the very popular ideas removed to appease Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson and move them through the process with reconciliation. Democrats can save themselves from this self-destruction, but, like recovering addicts, they must first admit that they have a serious problem.
I've already made it clear I was very happy to see the unions force a compromise on the Cadillac tax, one that helps non-union workers as well. If we're going to get stuck with this bill, that change was a definite improvement.
But I think Walker is right about how easy it will be for Republicans to campaign against the bill -- not against the entire bill, but against sections of it.
I'm still hoping for repeal of the antitrust exemption for insurance companies. I've been hearing there's more chance of that now. But we still don't know if that will be in the final HCR bill. And there's so much else in the bill that's very unpopular -- and so little in it that IS popular, according to all the recent polls -- that Walker is absolutely correct in saying it doesn't do Democrats any favors for the White House to suggest all that's needed is a good PR campaign.
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