David Kaiser. Please read the whole thing.
The enduring Republican victory
… Something even more striking is happening with regard to health care. Everyone seems to understand that we spend too much on it and can’t afford to go on at this rate. But Republicans and lobbyists seem very close to having killed the public option because it would be a cheaper form of health care. What we need, we cannot have. The broader problem is obvious. Cheaper health care means that many people will make less money out of health care—especially insurance companies and drug manufacturers. I have not heard even one participant in this debate suggest that there is something immoral about profiteering on medical care. Instead, the papers are filled with stories of the ways in which lobbyists are trying to make sure that a new bill will mean no less, and perhaps more, money for health care interests.
I am concerned by all this because I think that both the political future and that of the Obama Administration depend on facing these issues squarely. A health insurance “reform” that costs even more money will eventually have huge political costs for Democrats. Endless deficits with no end in sight will pose the same problem, and the collapse of yet another Wall Street bubble could easily return the Republicans to power. We cannot solve these problems without removing some of these taboos. The press, which consistently gives the most space to the shrillest voices on the right, has been no help either. The Administration has shown the courage to defy the conventional wisdom on several foreign policy issues, including missile defense and Iran, without apparently incurring political costs. Let us hope that it finds the courage to do the same on the far more critical domestic front.