Passage of President Obama?s health-care reform legislation late Sunday has been heralded as a historic event by both its supporters and foes. This is indeed the most significant health-care initiative to get through Congress, however bloody and divisive the battle. It seems to us the real truth is that nobody knows for sure what its shortterm or longterm impact will be on the future of this nation. In all likelihood it won?t be the great emancipator that Demo?crats claim it will be, nor the end of the world as Republican rhetoric predicts.
More than anything, we?re profoundly disappointed in how it came about. Democrats used every procedural trick in the book to avoid meaningful bipartisanship and constructive compromise. But then, so did Republicans. The process was all about partisan victory, not the good of the country.
So the sausage has been made?part pork, a lot of beef and more than a little baloney. Perhaps one day it will taste good. Or perhaps one day we?ll rue the day it was made. But in this moment, we?ve simply lost our appetite for the process. ?DR
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