Holiday From History

Writing in today’s Washington Post Steve Pearlstein tells the dirty fucking hippes to kick rocks and roll over on the Public Option:

Enough already with the public option!

It is not the be-all and end-all of health-care reform. It is not the long-awaited safety net for the uninsured. And if, as many liberals hope, it turns out to be nothing more than Medicare for All, it won’t do anything to hold down long-term growth in health spending.

The public option is nothing more than a political litmus test imposed on the debate by left-wing politicians and pundits who don’t want to be bothered with the real-life dynamics of the health-care market. It is the Maginot Line of health-care policy, and just like those stubborn French generals, liberal Democrats have vowed to defend it even if it means losing the war.

Pearlstein concluded by reminding anyone under the age of 15 to stay off his lawn.

Seriously though, Pearlstein’s crankiness brings to light the inanity of the last few days of recrimination, after recrimination on the left. On the one hand we have the White House eating shit from the base, for saying for saying nothing new about the Public Option. Monday evening, Rachel Maddow took to airwaves to declare that the White House had given up on the Public Option. This made for great teevee, except for the fact that no such thing had occurred. Maddow was joined by liberals across the world, whose worst nightmare and most common reflex had come to fruition. Yes, Obama had let us down, just like we knew he would we ahd feared.

As pointed out by Ezra Klein and others the Public Option is not the most important of health reform. The insurance reforms on the table, the individual/employer mandates, along with the advent of a national health insurance exchange are as crucial if not more so than the Public Option. Moreover, the proposed expansions of current government insurance programs-Medicaid and Medicare- will do a lot to make the lives of American better. All of this is pointed by Pearlstein in his article.

Paul Krugam gets at the crux of the matter here. The point being missed by the White House, liberals’ who share in Maddow’s anger, and the Very Serious policy types like Pearlstein, is that the Public Option isn’t about the Public Option.

It’s kinda like arguing with your partner about the soup they made for dinner. It’s never really about the soup. The Public Option is a lot more than an litmus test imposed by folks who don’t want to be bothered with the real life challenges of the healthcare market.(To clear, many of the bloggers Pearlstein condemns would probably be able to enroll in Public Option) The Public Option has come to symbolize Obama’s commitment not just to his base, but also his commitment good policy.  It doesn’t matter how important the actual policy is, its has become about the signal it sends to Republicans, the base, and the public. The reason that Obama can’t afford to compromise on Public Option is not because without it the bill would become so bad it wouldn’t be worth supporting. Rather, Obama can’t gave in on the Public Option because it would validate the worst caricatures of him held by left of Democratic Party and the nut jobs in the Republican Party. The caricature being that of a President who won’t stand firm when it matters most, who is willing to hand Bo over to Bad Newz Kennels if it came do to it.

What’s kinda odd here is the similarities between this and so many over moments in Obama’s political history. Remember when the Public Option was the Residual Forces in Iraq? Or when the Public Option was the individual mandate? Or better yet when the Public Option was the price tag attached to the stimulus? This is the dynamic of politics in the age of Obama. Why don’t folks seem to get this yet? It’s not about the soup.