A new CNN poll finds that Americans think both Democrats and Republicans are failing to act in a bipartisan manner — and that the Democrats should be the first ones to give up some of their proposals.
[...]
The next one: “Many people say that bipartisan cooperation will only occur if one party takes the first step by giving up some of the proposals it supports. Which party do you think should take the first step toward developing bipartisan solutions to the country’s problems — the Democratic party or the Republican party?” Here it is Democrats 54%, Republicans 42%.And finally: “If the two parties can develop bipartisan solutions to the country’s problems, which party do you think should give up more of the proposals it supports — the Democratic party or the Republican party?” The result is Democrats 51%, Republicans 43%.
Democrats (i.e. Obama) not only took the first step, THEY’VE TAKEN ALL THE STEPS, and they not only gave up more proposals, THEY WERE THE ONLY ONES TO GIVE UP ANYTHING. This was the abject stupidity of the Obama pre-compromise. The default Democratic position for years has been single-payer. Whether or not this is viable in the real world of corrupt Senators is wholly beside the point; single-payer is the dominant Democratic position on health care delivery. But Obama, so eager to compromise, compromised before anyone was even at the table. Before anyone had a chance to understand the contours of the debate and what each side stood for, Obama bargained away our position. For literally nothing, as the other side didn’t have to give anything up. Next it was the public option that left in place the brutally inefficient insurance industry but allowed for competition from a government-run plan. Then the scope of the public option was narrowed to the point that only 5% or so of citizens would be eligible, but even that was too extreme, so it had to go. Next was a Medicare buy-in, which would have allowed people 55 or older to pay their premiums to Medicare. Still a no-go. Finally the garbage bill that passed the Senate – with absolutely no Republican votes – got rid of all meaningful cost controls while only requiring insurance companies to not turn away customers.
Now no matter what your take on the ideal health care system may be, the fact that Democrats took the first step – and all subsequent steps, hollowing out their proposals to the point of being unrecognizable – isn’t debatable. So how on earth is it even possible, now that we have Obama, master communicator and deft political operator, that clear majorities don’t understand this? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I’m genuinely asking. Because as public opinion failures go, this is really epic.