espuelas

Pleasantly undaunted - and yet terrified that this is a replay of 1994 - Democrats are scrambling to find a way to pass some form of health care reform.

Across the Party, analysts and politicos are warning in dire language of the detrimental impact failure to pass reform will have on the 2010 elections.

Yet Gallup's latest survey, and other polls, are showing that a majority of Americans want that would-be health care reformers take a deep breath and reconsider the options available.  Gallup reports:

In the wake of Republican Scott Brown's victory in Tuesday's U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, the majority of Americans (55%) favor Congress' putting the brakes on its current healthcare reform efforts and considering alternatives that can obtain more Republican support. Four in 10 Americans (39%) would rather have House and Senate Democrats continue to try to pass the bill currently being negotiated in conference committee.

At some point, the President's message that health care reform is an integral component to creating a stable new base for economic recovery and jobs growth must connect with the middle class, specially Independents.

Currently the Administration's message is opaque at best.

And it would certainly be encouraging if, simultaneously with the President and his Party's efforts, that Republicans also effectively challenge the Democrats by proposing and pushing for coherent policies that could help relieve the tremendous anxiety the country feels.

While economic uncertainty may seem like a propitious mood in which to fight the 2010 elections, the best of American tradition tell us that great leaders and their parties put the interests of the people ahead of partisanship or other factors. 

The GOP must always remember the true message of Theodore Roosevelt's Presidency: a strong country starts with a growing, prosperous middle class unchained from both government and private-interest subjugation.

Teddy Roosevelt also knew that "...it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Got that people of all parties and no parties? We got to fight for America's success.  We have to work hard to push for policies that create the maximum good for the maximum number of people.  Everything else is noise and propaganda. 

Here is senior Presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett explaining what the President will fight for:

Politico reports:

leaders are considering making limited changes that can be passed using a budget process called reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate.

The changes being considered track closely with the agreements House and Senate leaders made in White House meetings last week, according to a source. They include the deal with labor unions to ease the tax on high-end insurance plans, additional Medicare cuts and taxes, the elimination of a special Medicaid funding deal for Nebraska and a move to help cover the gap in seniors' prescription-drug coverage. Pelosi is also working to change the Senate provision that sets up state insurance exchanges. The House prefers a single, national exchange.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley declined to comment on whether a list of changes was being drawn up.

"We have still not decided what we are going to do," Manley said. "We remain confident we will pass health reform this year. We are working with the White House and the House to identify our options for doing so. We anticipate further conversations with the administration, the House and our caucus."

Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said, "Discussions are ongoing, and options are being examined on the best way to move ahead on health insurance reform, but no final decisions have been made. It is premature to conclude anything except that staff is continuing to work on various options."

There is great uncertainty around both the politics and policy of the reconciliation strategy. Under the budget reconciliation process, the bill's changes would have to be germane to the budget, so there is a real question about how many of the proposed tweaks could be included.

Here's a mash-up of what different Democrats are suggesting should be the path forward: