Senate Takes Up Obama Health Care

One U.S. Senator said yesterday on national television that the "U.S. House of Representatives version of Obama health care reform will be dead on arrival when it reaches the U.S. Senate". While I won't go that far in describing the fate of health care reform in the U.S. Senate, most certainly the political makeup of that chamber of Congress is more moderate than the House of Representatives that is completely controlled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the United States there are liberals and then there are extreme liberals. The U.S. House of Representatives is made up of extreme liberals with the biggest liberal in the U.S., Nancy Pelosi, as it's leader.

The U.S. Senate is a completely different body of legislators that remain in office for eight years, instead of the two for House members - which means that U.S. Senators are less politically partisan on average than their counterparts in the House of Representatives. That said, I would be surprised if President Obama does not get at least some of his health care ideas passed in the U.S. Senate before the end of the year. When President Obama won the White House in 2008, the American people were completely fed up with the conservative leadership of President George W. Bush. So, as is often the case in this great country - the voters went in the complete opposite direction of President Bush and that is why a majority in the Congress and our U.S. President are liberals right now.

From a purely political point of view, Democrats in Congress and President Barack Obama cannot afford to outright lose their fight to reform health care in America. To do so would be political suicide for their party in the next election cycle in 2010. That is why I cannot image that a Democratic controlled Congress would not at least pass some type of health care reform - so they can declare victory for their political party. However, the extremely conservative Republican Party of today is working overtime to make sure that President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress do not change health care. It would be nice if their main motivation was what was in the best interest of the American people, but instead - for the GOP, health care reform is just more business as usual and that involves getting reelected that taking back power in the Congress.

Right now, I would consider passage of Obama health care reform in the U.S. Senate as a 50/50 proposition with a slight edge going to the Democrats. It is usually wise to not bet against the majority when it comes down to which way votes will be cast on an important issue in Washington. If however, the GOP is able to out maneuver the Democrats in the U.S. Senate and completely destroy President Obama's vision of health care reform in the United States - that would be one of the biggest victories ever accomplished by any major U.S. political party. The unfortunate truth is that both Democrats and Republicans in the Congress are fighting over health care reform for the wrong reasons. Both major political party's are fighting to expand their own power, instead of doing the right thing. In the end, this latest battle over health care is just more of the same from our elected leaders.