Well, his wife might have some insight, folks.
The bill before Congress will finally deliver on the urgent needs of all Americans. It would make their lives better and do so much good for this country. That, in the end, must be the test of reform. That was always the test for Ted Kennedy. He's not here to urge us not to let this chance slip through our fingers. So I humbly ask his colleagues to finish the work of his life, the work of generations, to allow the vote to go forward and to pass health-care reform now. As Ted always said, when it's finally done, the people will wonder what took so long.
I remember this moment, one which almost didn't happen:
And I would be shocked to hear anything else from Kennedy's widow and loved ones.
Discuss
15 Comments . Comments are closed.Insight?
From Vicki Kennedy
Ted often said that we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. He also said that it was better to get half a loaf than no loaf at all, especially with so many lives at stake.
Sorry, we're talking about a mandated corporate takeover of health care in America. If I'm going to be paying for a whole loaf of bread, I want the whole loaf of bread.
he'd stop a bad bill and fix it
How would ...
the new system be any more of a "corporate takeover" of health care than the status quo?
It's about the mandate, Charley
Let me change that to... a "corporate takeover" of "people". The public option would be a safety net against the corporate insurance companies, should they decide to continue to find ways to pillage the American people(they will... because they have already shown themselves to be monsters). I have no trust that they will suddenly become humanitarian in nature.
With due respect to Vicki Kennedy,
Ted might also have been indignant and had more f-i-g-h-t in him than Obama and Reid, upon seeing an excellent bill (one with either a PO or Medicare buy-in) diluted by nincompoops like Nelson and Lieberman. I don't profess to know how Ted Kennedy would feel or what he'd do but consider if had not contracted brain cancer. He would still be aging and likely sensing the end of his career approaching. Having fought for health reform for so long, I think he might have gone for the whole loaf - full speed ahead and damn the incrementalism at this stage (with this president and both houses of Congress). Seize the moment! But again, I don't profess to know.
The Left's Worst Enemy
Conservative policies
Afghanistan I'll give you, but do you really think this health care bill is a "conservative policy"? If so you've forgotten what unified Republican rule was like, and you're giving far too much credit to conservatives.
Legislation is really complex
and the process to make the sausage -- the compromise, the private conversations, the cajoling -- is even more complex.
Could we all agree that we don't have the foggiest idea exactly what Senator Kennedy would have done during this process?
Yes,
we can.
Well, no, I don't agree.
His wife is a smart person by all accounts; was very close to him; helped him put together/write his memoirs; knew policy; etc. I mean, come on ... I damn well think that if anyone knows what he would have thought, she would.
Ted's presumed wishes only one factor. Thing change.
Things change. Senator Kennedy (we, me included, have been using "Ted" as if we had been on a first-name basis) might or might not have supported the current bill. Well, I'm not willing to say I would have followed his wishes to support the bill even if he were still around and the bill was the same as it is now. There. I said it. Blasphemy. I might have departed from Ted Kennedy, whose values, acumen and career I revere.
Akin to this... bear with me a moment as I think aloud... on Afghanistan, people have rightly pointed out that Obama did say during the campaign he would shift focus - and troops - from Iraq to Afghanistan and try to finish what was left unaccomplished by Bush. And that criticizing Obama for now carrying through on it is hypocritical, i.e. "you bought it during the campaign, so accept it now." But things change. We're looking much more closely at what Afghanistan really is about and, I think, seeing that Obama's blithe and somewhat macho campaign posture of "finishing what Bush flubbed" is simplistic.
My point is that... things change. While I thought Obama sounded right on Afghanistan during the campaign, I don't now. While I might once have followed Senator Kennedy wherever he led on health care legislation, he's not around now. The current top Dem leaders have exhibited a dismaying lack of fight and leadership and allowed Repubs and Lieberman and Nelson to derail a chance for a historic and fundamental advance and desperately needed reform to our health care system.
We are who we've been waiting for. God Bless the memory and legacy of Ted Kennedy but Heaven help us if we allow an opportunity for momentous health care reform to slip through out hands. There are many ways to win this football game and I am not saying we need to have only glorious touchdown passes to win the health care reform fight. We can grunt it out on the ground and improve the bill via reconciliation. However we do it, as Coach Howard Dean said the other day, "We didn't elect Democrats to pass crap."
Remember when Ted helped pass No Child Left Behind?
His compromise was that Bush would get the massive required testing (wonder if any Bush family members invested in ed businesses?) and Ted K. would get more funding for special needs students and the poor schools.
And then the funding didn't really materialize.
Not every compromise Ted Kennedy made was the right choice.
We, the progressive side of the Democratic Party, have made many compromises on this with the insurance/pharma side of the Senate... without a public option, expanded Medicare, the power for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, the option to reimport drugs, the public interest will be in a weak position.
We need to bargain harder on this bill, so we don't get played as we got played on No Child Left Behind.
Charlie, while I'll agree that this bill is currently better than nothing on policy, it is not great on policy, and it is bad on politics (for reasons explained by Atrios & Olbermann, for instance). We can pass it as is, but it won't look like Dems & Obama stood up for the ordinary people.
Wonder no more
Of course:
The Manager's amendment is being read in full on the floor now
Debate on the amendment will start about 3PM.
Details of the changes Reid has proposed are trickling out. They represent changes negotiated by individual Senators and other "fixes" required to accumulate 60 votes and as well as offer alternatives to elements stripped out by Lieberman and others.
- It looks like for-profit insurers will be required by law to spend a percentage of money collected as premium on medical losses (reimbursements). I have no details on the treatment of gains on reserves.
This is not the same as cost-control. It merely limits profit as a percentage of premium. Seems like it might have the opposite effect of cost-control in insurance markets dominated by one provider.
- I think individual states have the right to opt out of abortion service access in plans offered on the exchange which makes me wonder if that means we'll have 50 exchanges and limited market power. (No word on whether these are non-profit insurers as before or not.)
Reid, Dodd, Harkin held a press conference about 11:30 but spoke only in generalities.
Speaking of which
The screenprint on C-SPAN said that normally this is waived, but Senator McConnell required it be read. Why does it take only one Senator? Robert's Rules (which I realize the Senate doesn't use) would allow one person to move the reading be waived and if one person objects it goes to a vote decided by majority. Also, if I were in the chair I would have ruled the motion diliatory and let the Senators make a fuss. The rules of the Senate were clearly written in a time when everyone assumed that everyone else would act in good faith and have a genuine interest in moving the process along, even if they didn't agree on the merits. Sadly, we have lost that.
« Blue Mass Group Front Page
Wed 23 May 8:35 PM