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Heroes and villains of health reform - The Week
Heroes
1. President Obama relied on the long game, disdaining counsel to go for something small and safe, and refusing to turn in the face of a political firestorm. His performance wasn't perfect, but he has been steadfast, and he's now headed for a defining moment-- for the nation and his presidency.
2. Nancy Pelosi, who Republicans and tea-baggers love to hate, has earned their enmity. As Speaker of the House, she has ably led, cajoled and juggled the shifting coalitions of a fractious party, and appears on the verge of corralling enough votes to get the job done.
3. House Progressives are proving to be bigger than the fine points of their ideology. Pro-choice members have decided to live with the Senate prohibition on public funding for abortion. Almost to a person, indeed to a Kucinich, the advocates of single-payer and a public option have agreed to settle -- for now -- for something less
4. Mitt Romney. The former Governor of Massachusetts is an unwilling hero who would surely turn this Shrummie Award down. Before he took up kowtowing to the far right-- an unconvincing exercise that may nonetheless earn him a GOP presidential nomination -- albeit one even more thankless and morally bankrupt than the last -- Romney worked closely with Ted Kennedy and other Democrats to enact a statewide health plan that's a model for Obama's reform.
Villains
1. A tie between the Senate and House Republican Leaders, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. McConnell has confessed that he plotted total opposition to reform before he even knew what was in the bill. (Given the GOPs indifference to policy, he may still not know.) Along with the bronze Boehner, a coconut-butter poltergeist of Newt Gingrich, McConnell keeps a teapot of lies at the ready.
2. Chuck Grassley. The dour, duplicitous Senator from Iowa pretended to be bargaining with his earnest Democratic colleague Max Baucus, then suddenly turned and denounced the "death panels" that were never in the bill.
3. Bart Stupak is the somewhat Democratic congressman from Michigan who contrived the original House legislations backdoor attempt to outlaw abortion. He's refused all rational compromise, even insisting, falsely, that the Senate alternative pays for abortion
Heroes
1. President Obama relied on the long game, disdaining counsel to go for something small and safe, and refusing to turn in the face of a political firestorm. His performance wasn't perfect, but he has been steadfast, and he's now headed for a defining moment-- for the nation and his presidency.
2. Nancy Pelosi, who Republicans and tea-baggers love to hate, has earned their enmity. As Speaker of the House, she has ably led, cajoled and juggled the shifting coalitions of a fractious party, and appears on the verge of corralling enough votes to get the job done.
3. House Progressives are proving to be bigger than the fine points of their ideology. Pro-choice members have decided to live with the Senate prohibition on public funding for abortion. Almost to a person, indeed to a Kucinich, the advocates of single-payer and a public option have agreed to settle -- for now -- for something less
4. Mitt Romney. The former Governor of Massachusetts is an unwilling hero who would surely turn this Shrummie Award down. Before he took up kowtowing to the far right-- an unconvincing exercise that may nonetheless earn him a GOP presidential nomination -- albeit one even more thankless and morally bankrupt than the last -- Romney worked closely with Ted Kennedy and other Democrats to enact a statewide health plan that's a model for Obama's reform.
Villains
1. A tie between the Senate and House Republican Leaders, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. McConnell has confessed that he plotted total opposition to reform before he even knew what was in the bill. (Given the GOPs indifference to policy, he may still not know.) Along with the bronze Boehner, a coconut-butter poltergeist of Newt Gingrich, McConnell keeps a teapot of lies at the ready.
2. Chuck Grassley. The dour, duplicitous Senator from Iowa pretended to be bargaining with his earnest Democratic colleague Max Baucus, then suddenly turned and denounced the "death panels" that were never in the bill.
3. Bart Stupak is the somewhat Democratic congressman from Michigan who contrived the original House legislations backdoor attempt to outlaw abortion. He's refused all rational compromise, even insisting, falsely, that the Senate alternative pays for abortion