Governing by theatre, was health care summit comedy or tragedy?
As I have written before, the outcome of the health care summit was never in doubt. The President staked out his position, and he apparently believes he has enough votes to get it through via reconciliation. Republicans had a chance to state some alternatives and score some political points (with their supporters). I’d be interested to see the ratings, but I would guess the Olympics drew more viewers.
The view from down under is that this kind of theatre is necessary to govern in the US, which is kind of sad in a way, and kind of scary in another.
One thing is clear, it is not about policy – only politics. As Ezra Klein pointed out, if McCain had been elected, and a similar plan were in front of Congress (like the one McCain championed in his campaign), would Democrats support it? Would Republicans?
