Health Care: It HAS to be Done Now...Or Does It?

What ever happened to those poor people liberals so love to talk about. You know, little Jimmy who is suffering because he doesn't have coverage? He'll tomorrow if we don't pass a health care reform bill soon. There were numerous stories, some true, some fabricated, about how people were going to die in the streets because of their lack of health care insurance. Health care needed to be done yesterday, so said President Obama along with the liberal members of Congress.

They were determined to pass a bill before the summer recess. Then it was Christmas. After that it was the State of the Union Address.

It has to be done NOW. For the people of course. Because THEY ARE SUFFERING.

Congress pushed for votes on various forms of their bills mere hours after they were released to the public, barely giving Americans any time to analyze the bill. Have you ever tried reading 2,000+ pages of legal language in a day and a half (not exactly a light read)? This urgency continued all the way until the final passage vote in the Senate on Christmas Eve. All because people would die if it wasn't done now.

My, how things have changed.

In an article here, Chris Dodd has suggested that lawmakers take a "breather" for six weeks. Evan Bayh recently stated the democrats needed to rethink their strategy, that the Massachusetts special election has served as a wake up call. Other democrats suddenly seem concerned that the people may actually not want this bill.

It's interesting that when liberals had a super majority and the ability to pass just about anything, the argument was that health care reform needed to be done now, "for the people". Now that the left has finally realized America doesn't want this bill, there is not that sense of urgency.

Obama has already started his rhetoric on "getting even" with evil Wall Street (Never mind evil Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they get a pass because they're with the government). The house has already passed through a finance reform bill, and I'm guessing democrats will use the "Corporations against the average people" argument to try to gain back some favorability.

I just think it's interesting that conservatives are painted as greedy and unsympathetic, while liberals are selflessly compassionate: right up to the point where it hurts their re-election prospects.