The New Republic

Yesterday in Yardistan the rains came along with a lot of wind, so I did what any normal human being would do: hunkered down in Youtube and dialed up "Russian street fights." Also some car and plane crashes, but mostly it was about big crowds of Russian punks marching down the street toward and whaling upon each other. (I've always preferred watching amateur street and bar and playground fights to that crap they market on TV.) So it is with great anticipation that I hope the Democrats will do whatever they must to pass health care reform legislation. What that legislation says may matter in the long term, but it's the short-term entertainment I value now, and thus it's the method, not the content, of the bill's passage that matters. I want the Democrats to royally piss off the GOP. Not because I particularly heart donkeys over elephants, but because I really love watching the two sides slug it out. This strikes me as one of those fortuitous binary moments in the spacetime continuum after which things could go a long way in different directions for some time, depending. If the Democrats draw the line in the sand by ramming through health care, legit ramming though it may or may not be, the gloves will be off and we'll see what both sides are made of. (I keep hearing Emanuel is this tough guy. The last tough guy I remember in Washington was Tom DeLay.) Conversely, if the Dems fail to ram through the bill, their new daddy the GOP will be bitch-slapping them 'til 2012, at least. C'mon, guys. Give me a reason to put some popcorn in the nuker, kick off the Birkies, and stay awake. I hope it's a good show. You can schedule the denouement for after I'm dead.

- williamyard

January 19, 2010 at 8:27pm

Noam, doesn't it occur to you that these Democratic "ingrates" are looking at how the White House treated Coakley and Deeds even before they lost their elections - and wondering whether their own gestures of self-sacrifice will be rewarded with equal contempt? What favors might such people calculate they owe Rahm - rather than the other way around? It's time for you and the Jonathans to stop being so naive. The good times are over - they were never really here.

- grasmere10

January 19, 2010 at 10:56pm

This health care abomination is dead... even Barney Frank says so. No democrat who wants to be re-elected will support it -- almost every independent is against it. And the 1 year experiment with socialsm comes to an end. That is change you can believe in.

- mr_rationale

January 20, 2010 at 1:33am

I dunno -- as Freud once said, the voice of reason is a still, small voice, but it is a voice, and it will have its say. The idea that one can't enact a basic sensible reform in order to bring the U.S. up to the standard of other advanced industrial nations seems like, in the final run, an unlikely idea. The current "wisdom" appears to be that folks with medicare want the government out of their lives, and that everyone likes the idea of insurance companies decided who's a worthwhile individual and who's not. We've done a whole raft of other things, and in the teeth of worse opposition than what's out there now.

- ironyroad

January 20, 2010 at 2:52am

With all due respect to Noam, Rahm Emanuel and all the Blue Dogs, Cats and Squirrels in town, I disagree that it's anything for Rahm to do. The President has to do this himself. He can't let this rest on Rahm's influence or anyone else. This is his time to lead. He's done it before - taken an impossible situation and turned it around (think Rev Wright). I've been a supporter of Obama for a long time. That hasn't changed and won't change soon, I think. But this is really his moment. He has to do it, be a leader, be a President. Noone else can. See Josh Marshall's thoughts: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/01/whats_the_prez_made_of.php

- Mormon Socialist

January 20, 2010 at 5:01am

I'm with 'Yard on the entertainment factor. Here's another scenario--Rahm, O, and the whole gang do a full-court press, and slam something through. Republicans are gifted with better Youtube clips than "Russian street fights", and maybe even better than "Taiwanese and South Korean brawls in Parliament". They subsequently regain control of Congress, making it (just) possible that Obama can tack right, get something meaningful done for the country, and (maybe) save his presidency.

- Robert Powell

January 20, 2010 at 9:47am