Reconciliation 2010: How To Hold Congress Hostage Until Healthcare Passes.
Krugman says "if health care passes, and job numbers turn positive, November may be very different from what the Tea Party expects."
"... Conservatives will freak out. They’ve already been celebrating the defeat of HCR, failing to notice that Democrats have actually passed a bill in both houses, and still have a huge majority. And there will be cries of foul play — how dare Democrats actually follow the Constitution!"
Game on. Americans are wise to the wishful thinking by Democrats and the accompanying delusions.
Meanwhile, Obama's White House is holding onto hope that a populist pushback to Anthem Blue Cross of California proposing nearly 40 percent increases of insurance rates will suddenly make the liberals the good guys again.
Hufflington Post reports President Obama holding a "forum" with Democrats and Republicans on C-Span, where he obviously intends to make it look like it is all the fault of the Republicans in Congress.
But it is the Democrats who are running scared, along with the special interests, and they're running away from him.
"It's a high-stakes situation for him more than anybody else," said Gerald Shea, the top health care adviser for the AFL-CIO. "If the judgment is either that it's a political farce, or if it fails to move the ball forward significantly ... that would be very damaging to the issue and to him."
Mid-term elections for Congress aren't looking good for incumbent Democrats but Obama stubbornly seems ready for the over-manipulative "reconciliation" process to get what he wants on healthcare.
Think Verdun.
"If Obama thinks he's going to get a single Republican vote at this stage of the game, he's fooling himself (or the American people). Many months ago, you may recall, the White House and Democratic party leaders in the Senate threatened to pass health care with 51 votes -- using a process called "reconciliation" that allows tax and spending bills to be enacted without filibuster -- unless Republicans came on board. It's time to pull the trigger."
The New York Times reported that a House Democratic caucus meeting is set for Monday evening ... with a senior Senate Democratic aide expressing doubts.
“It has been three weeks since the Massachusetts election, and we have not received a path forward from the White House on health care substance and process that can clear the House and Senate,” the aide said.
Republicans can start rejoicing.
No "bipartisan" health bill exists to ease the "impasse" in Congress.
However, the political smoking gun is an expected public reaction to Anthem Blue Cross planning rate increases of up to 39 percent.
The game in play, as reported by The Washington Post, is that the Obama proposal targets insurance-rate increases.
Now the White House wants to play its own game of populism, except reconciliation is still going to make it look like the Democrats shook down the Republicans in Congress and every public entity receiving Federal aid to get their way on healthcare.
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