American Sickness Care - Leave no Special Interest Behind

Arianna Huffington: The Senate Health Care Bill: Leave No Special Interest Behind
Arianna Huffington has, as usually, gotten it right. There is no way to introduce bad legislation and then, make it good. Legislation needs to be right from the word go and this bill, with so many hopes riding on it - is just more of the same old, same old. Not good enough Obama! You were given a mandate by the American people and you have not shown the fortitude to follow through on your promises.

With Monday morning's 1 a.m. 60-40 vote, the Senate's health care bill took another step towards passage, prompting a fresh round of public celebrations. "I think it's very exciting," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told HuffPost. "It's a big day."

Even many of those with serious reservations about the bill were slipping on their party hats. "Make no mistake about it," said SEIU president Andy Stern, "for working Americans, this vote signals progress."

And Paul Krugman, while calling the legislation "a seriously flawed bill we'll spend years if not decades fixing," applauded it as "an awesome achievement."

This typifies the current thinking of the "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" crowd. Unfortunately, there are three faulty premises at work in this line of reasoning. First, that those who oppose the bill do so because it's not perfect (as opposed to because it's a hot health care mess). Second, that the bill is, well, good (as opposed to a total victory for Pharma and the insurance industry -- witness the spectacular spike in health care stocks following Monday's vote).