The Bottom Line

The Senate has finally passed what Progressives rightly consider to be an unpalatable piece of legislation purported to be health care reform. Having long ago grown tired of the facile bromides about not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good and this was the best the Democratic president was going to get from his majority-Democratic House and Senate, I once again join in the chorus calling "bullshit".

How is it that, when they want to give the rich the biggest tax breaks in the history of this country, the Republicans don't give a flying fuck about the comity of the Senate, manage to get it done, with Democrats on board. When it comes to doing something to help the average American, the legendarily timid Democrats, knowing full well they'll never have 60 votes, go through the process of coming up with a bill so riddled with compromises, Tiger Woods couldn't fuck all the holes in it.

And the joke seems to be "Yeah, it's bad now, but we'll fix it". How? Do you expect to have 60 reliable, rock-willed Democratic caucus votes someday? Uh, huh. Right.

The White House and Harry Reid just don't get it.

I'm here to tell you that the millions of people who spent the last years working hard and doing their best, only to see the financial system ruined, their 401ks nearly eliminated, or totally exhausted, because they had or have no job, and the values of their homes decimated, are pissed. They're pissed about a Wall Street that remains unpunished and unrepentant. They're angry at a party that promises reform and delivers yet another windfall to one of corporate America's most insidious cartels. They've had enough of the lack of balls and the lack of leadership from President Obama and Senator Reid. They're pissed, and they won't soon be forgetting. I know, because I'm one of those folks.

I want Blanche Lincoln, Harry Reid, Ben Nelson, and Joe Lieberman to know I, and millions of others, won't be forgetting. Count on it.