Salvaging Health Care Reform

I laughed this morning when I heard Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) say this morning that (because the Democrats now only have a 59-41 lead in the Senate) they're in the driver's seat. I laughed at first because it demonstrated how delusional folks in Washington are that they can't do simple math. Then I realized sardonically that he may be right. With the massive all-or-nothing approach to health care it's pretty easy to get senators together to filibuster.

We need health care reform, but did we need it to be such a massively stupid bill that it took over a year to pull together? Couldn't we have had smaller, more manageable bills that are easier to negotiate? Easier to have up/down votes on?

If the Democrats want a strategy to pass health care reform, break it into those manageable chunks. Maybe 4 separate pieces - one for the controls including not denying people with existing coverage, one for the national exchange, and one for the public option. Present them individually. If the Republicans want to filibuster each and every one, they'll be globally viewed as the obstructionists they've been all year. In the mid-terms they'll be slaughtered.