It is a tough day to be a democrat. Scott Brown has won Teddy's seat and the 60 vote democratic block in the Senate is gone. On one hand, I feel like this is a good thing, because it will force the democratic leadership to look for more centrist proposals in legislation. On the other hand, I do not believe the republican party is interested in getting much work done -- they are amazing at running in opposition and because the economy is not going well for most Americans, it is easy to paint the President and the Congress as the reason for this, although it was over 6 years of republican leadership that contributed to the situation we currently face.
What's next? We get fired up and ready to go. The house should pass the Senate version of Health Care Reform with the caveat that the unpalatable provisions will be fixed through budget reconciliation. We must get something done now and the President and the congress must sell it to the people. We cannot allow the republicans to continue to dominate the dialogue on this bill -- it is a great thing for this country. We need serious reform to the financial management of healthcare and this bill does just that; the problem is no one really understands the key features and benefits of the bill.
The Congress must also act quickly on deficit reduction, jobs creation and turning around the economy. The Congress must convince the american people, through action, that it is well equipped to deal with these issues.
