The White House’s announcement yesterday that it will schedule its State of the Union address for next Wednesday, January 27th, an earlier date than most insiders expected, is surely not coincidental and reflects a desire to pressure the House into voting for the Senate’s version of the health care bill almost immediately, assuming that Scott Brown defeats Martha Coakley in Massachusetts tonight.
The pitch that the White House and Nancy Pelosi will make to the Democratic members of the House is a difficult one and will need to be extremely well executed, but is likely to consist of one or more of the following arguments….
This just doesn’t sound like smart politics to me. They already look desperate and sneaky, after late-night votes and high pressure. To push this through against current public opinion and without any bipartisan support at all is not going to be to their credit.
And even though they may try this, it may not work. Rep. Stupak insists he has 10-15 Democrats who will hold the line against the Senate bill because of the abortion problem. And the lone Republican who voted for the House bill may very well back off this time.
So much for “Openness, transparency, debate and bi-partisanship.” Washington and especially this President are looking awful lot like a replay of “The Kingfish,” Huey Long (of the 1930’s fame) in Louisiana.
Virtually some of the very same issues in play, such as “wealth re-distribution.”
If I’m a moderate, freshman Democrat in a district that voted for McCain, or if I won by only a slim margin in a normally Republican district, what could Nancy Pelosi possibly offer me to vote for Obamacare? A better committee assignment? What good will that do if I lose the election. A pot ‘o money for my reelection committee? Probably won’t help much if Obamacare gets rammed through.
There are going to be some interesting times ahead for political news junkies!