Is health care the GOP's 'Waterloo'?

Conservative columnist David Frum says the Democrats' passage of health-care reform is the greatest legislative defeat for the GOP in decades.

Best Opinion:  Frum Forum

After an epic political battle, House Democrats on Sunday won final approval of a historic overhaul of the health-care system without a single Republican vote. David Frum argues in FrumForum.com that by trying everything in their power to block the legislation, instead of making a deal and sharing in the victory, Republicans set themselves up for an "abject and irreversible defeat." Here's an excerpt:

"Conservatives and Republicans [on Sunday] suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for [Sunday's] vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November — by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the health-care bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This health-care bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.

So far, I think a lot of conservatives will agree with me. Now comes the hard lesson:

A huge part of the blame for [Sunday’s] disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves."

Read the entire article here

...........................................

SEE THE WEEK'S LATEST COVERAGE OF THE HEALTH CARE BILL:
• Health care reform: By the numbers
• Health care: Winners and losers
• Is Obama now a "great" president?
• Health care reform: What's next?
• The Tea Party's Capital Hill protests: "Disturbingly racist"?
• Abortion: Who compromised the most?