Yglesias wrote a very strong piece arguing that the House Democrats are making a huge mistake in not passing the bill. Mainly, most voters don’t care about all of the different versions of the bill — all they know is Obamacare. Congress made it this far, had a bunch of votes, then stopped. Yglesias explains that the consequence of failing now is, basically, a double epic fail.
In other words, almost all of the Democrats have, at one point or another, voted for Obamacare. Their names are inextricably attached to the legislation, which, admittedly, isn’t the most popular legislation in the world right now. Yet they’re glued to Obamacare and the attacks will surely come.
If they pass the bill, they’ll at least have the positive aspects of healthcare reform to pitch at home. Big potential upside (Medicare donut hole fixed, Medicaid expansion, insurance regulations, lives saved, bankruptcies avoided, etc, etc).
But instead, they’re walking away from those positive things, with their names/votes still linked, leaving them open for attack. All of this on top of the fact that even with a 59 seat majority, they still couldn’t finish the job. No upside at all. Nothing. All the shit, and no goodies to brag about. Double epic fail.
HUGE mistake, Democrats. Pass this bill.
