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:
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(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
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SEE THE WEEK'S LATEST COVERAGE OF THE HEALTH CARE BILL:
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• Is Obama now a "great" president?
• Health care reform: What's next?
• The Tea Party's Capital Hill protests: "Disturbingly racist"?
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