Politics Sunday (Healthcare, baby!)

We start off one of the most important politics Sundays with a quote by Walt Whitman, which I saw in the current Vonnegut essay collection that I’m reading, Fates Worse Than Death. Though the book itself has many good nuggets of brilliance, it’s not as good as Palm Sunday, Vonnegut’s other autobiographical essay collection (which is gold, Jerry! Gold!). But on an important day like today, this tidbit from Whitman seems particularly apt.

"It is the fashion among dilettantes and fops (perhaps I myself am not guiltless,) to decry the whole formulation of the active politics of America, as beyond redemption, and to be carefully kept away from. See you that you do not fall into this error. America, it may be, is doing very well upon the whole, notwithstanding these antics of the parties and their leaders, these half-brain'd nominees, the many ignorant ballots, and many elected failures and blatherers. It is the dilettantes, and all who shirk their duty, who are not doing well. As for you, I advise you to enter more strongly yet into politics. I advise every young man to do so."

If, indeed, the House votes on and passes health care today, it would give “every young man” a very good reason to have with in the politics of America again. The current bill would be the largest and most important piece of legislation to be passed in the law in the last decade for certain, and possibly in the last thirty years. It will come after a year of debate in which every potential roadblock has been reared its ugly head. The slow economic recovery; the town hall meetings (sponsored by Fox News); the Tea Party movement (sponsored by Fox News); the loss of a special election; the obstruction tactics; the constant threat of a filibuster…
I could just go on and on and on.

And, if you’re like me, you probably feel like this whole Health Care thing has just dragged on and on and on. It’s literally been a damn year that we’ve had to hear about all the tedium of this very unsexy bill. Is the public option in or out? What’s the latest CBO estimate? Which Democrats are wavering? Oh, my God!

Any rational person would want to gouge their eyes out whenever the words Health Care are uttered. Of course, I’m a political junkie; this stuff’s like porn for me.

As we speak, I’m watching This Week (sadly, no longer with George Stephanopoulus) and the Democrats are saying that they officially have the votes. I’ll believe him when I see it. First, we thought it was going to be done in August; then by November; then by December; then by the end of February. Now, it’s March. If the Democrats don’t have the votes now, they will never have the votes. Ever. (Or at least for the next decade)

And it will prove that the party has no real ability to govern whatsoever.

There will be much more on this later, but I have a busy day and someone challenged me to put up a posting by noon, so I'll leave you with this fun little nugget that says something about how crazy this whole issue (and the opposition in particular) has become:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-KGukuety0