. . becoming a Democrat. Baucus’ bill is, in other words, a center-right compromise, far from ideal but politically satisfactory to the coalition of interests Obama thinks are critical both to passage of healthcare reform and to future legislative success in other areas.

As an obvious compromise, however — and an illiberal one — Baucus’ bill always was certain to draw fire from most Democrats, and it predictably would face amendments that would dilute its centrist core. The only way to keep such amendments from rupturing the strange-bedfellow alliances that the bill seeks to preserve is for Baucus and his allies to “liberalize” the bill themselves. For that reason, Baucus’ original bill i...

. . becoming a Democrat. Baucus’ bill is, in other words, a center-right compromise, far from ideal but politically satisfactory to the coalition of interests Obama thinks are critical both to passage of healthcare reform and to future legislative success in other areas.

As an obvious compromise, however — and an illiberal one — Baucus’ bill always was certain to draw fire from most Democrats, and it predictably would face amendments that would dilute its centrist core. The only way to keep such amendments from rupturing the strange-bedfellow alliances that the bill seeks to preserve is for Baucus and his allies to “liberalize” the bill themselves. For that reason, Baucus’ original bill intentionally carried a CBO pricetag nearly $100 billion less than the $950 billion needed for deficit neutrality. Baucus, with clever foresight, gave himself leeway to add relatively insignificant improvements so that he could pretend he is flexible, and pretend that his bill can be made adequate, and thereby mollify progressives.

But those improvements are not enough to make his bill good, and his strategy — pretending to improve a bill that is unacceptable at its core, and hoping we’re too dumb to notice — are both transparent and disingenuous.

Baucus’ bill, and his new amendments, are like this:


God: “I want you to build me a horse.”

Satan: “OK, here’s a Northern Pike.”

God: “But Northern Pike can’t run, carry people, or eat grass!”


Satan: “That’s OK, I left enough room to put some legs on the pike.”


A fish, even with legs tacked on, is not a horse. And Max Baucus’ tepid vision of reform, even as amended, is not a true healthcare solution.

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Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/m.s.-bellows/legs-on-a-pike-understand_b_294166.html