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Harry Reid, Future Health Insurance Lobbyist
By Rob Kall (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)
For OpEdNews: Rob Kall - Writer
It looks like he's started already.
It doesn't have to go that way. Reid could be a hero instead of a zero and get tough. That's unlikely, because if he was going to do that, he'd have dumped Max Baucus as head of the sentate finance committee and would not have included him and Chris Dodd as part of the triumvirate designated to shepherd health care reform through the senate.
There's not much time. If Reid gets real reform passed, he might salvage his career, his legacy and place in history. We now know that at least 45,000 people die in America each year. Some right wing neanderthals in both parties might argue that some of those dead are not legal residents. Lotsa heart there.
History will not view kindly, this whole batch of legislators who should be passing laws giving health care to every American, either medicare for all or genuine single payer health care.
Eventually, the US must pass such legislation. It is the only viable solution. There may not be another chance for them to do it though. The Dems were given the power in the house, senate and Whitehouse and the spinelessness and repeated failure of Harry Reid kept them from even trying. And Nancy Pelosi didn't help either.
I'm not saying it would be easy. Pelosi should have disobeyed Rahm Emanuel and the White house DLC cowards who were afraid to pursue legal justice. She should have directed John Conyers to hold hearings about Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, and the Justice Department Rove-directed attorneys. The Republicans would have screamed bloody murder but, by now, the truth would be out and they would be exposed as protecting criminals.
But there is no accountability in the house and the right was given a free ride. Maybe Obama and company thought that would get them Olympia Snowe, senator for the state of 1.3 million.
But there is no corruption narrative to distract the right wing. So they created a narrative out of thin air-- teapartiers, birthers, deathers-- and the media filled the vacuum Pelosi and Reid failed to fill, since Patrick Leahy would have been happy to go after the aforementioned criminals if Harry Reid had encouraged him.
So we face a situation where Max Baucus, representing less than a million people, out of 307 million, has such outrageous power. The senate should be abolished as an archaic element of our government that is destroying America. But that's another story.
But Harry Reid could have dealt with Baucus. The health insurers bought Baucus and others for a few million bucks. Reid could have coordinated with Obama to throw pork for their respective states at the reform resistant senators to pull them away from their loyalty to the insurers-- well, more pork. I'm sure they're already using that lure.
The Dems need to hammer the handful of bluedog senators who are threatening to not hold strong to block filibusters. Reid should be able to do that. But that's not enough. If we get the health care bill Baucus has offered, Reid is a failure, Dodd is a failure and Baucus is a traitor. That's right, a traitor.
America is in the middle of a battle. It is being fought between corporations and their intermediaries and the American people. So far, the American people are losing and have been for years. Reid will lose his senate seat because he chose the corporate side.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope Reid, after years of being a jellyfish, shows some spine. The American people gave Reid, Pelosi and Obama real power. They have failed to use it. That is a failure of leadership, a failure of courage, of vision, of strength and, virtually, a sell-out that has failed America. It is an outrage and if the Baucus plan, as currently written is what the senate offers America, Reid and a slew of Democrats deserve to be thrown out of office.
And, oh, btw, today's Wall Street Journal is blasting, at the top of the front page, a celebration that the Obama administration has backed off on another promise-- the go after corporations that use offshore tax dodges. That's another article, or is it just another example of the Dem leadership's failure to keep promises and DESERVE re-election.
Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), President of Futurehealth, Inc, (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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