Back in September, before many Democrats in D.C. were comfortable with expressing support for the public health insurance option, I was here, expressing my unequivocal support for the same, and, more importantly, expressing my view of what should guide negotiations on the health insurance reform bill:
As this health insurance debate enters a new phase, we should continue to seek out bipartisanship. But while we may compromise when appropriate to get this plan passed, we should refuse to compromise our principles.
We shouldn’t allow reform to be blocked by those on either side of the aisle whose seats at the table were bought and paid for by special interests, and whose votes on the bill are already predetermined by the signers of their campaign contribution checks. That's one of the main reasons I decided to reject money from corporate PACs and federal lobbyists. Facts, not money, should matter here.
The principles, set forth by the President and members of Congress alike, that have guided the health care debate are simple: every American deserves access to affordable, quality health care. In the richest country on earth, no American should die because of a lack of health insurance.
Over the last several months, we’ve seen multiple avenues proposed for honoring these principles. Some were just window-dressing, others had real promise. And, as I said, in my opinion, one stood out above the rest as being the most reasonable, efficient, and effective method—a public health insurance option that would increase competition, reduce costs, and lower the deficit (according to the non-partisan CBO).
Compromising away the public option would be understandable if we were dealing with true compromise, with the type of good-faith give-and-take that yields real progress. Although we still don’t know the exact details of the proposal floated this week, an expansion of Medicare with a buy-in, for example, may have proved a viable alternative route to expanding health care coverage.
We were not ever going to get a perfect bill. But the goal was and always is to pass a bill that honors the idea of building a "more perfect union." We need a bill that directly addresses the imperfections in our current health care system and that takes a substantial step forward to covering all Americans.
But the lack of true compromise is what has made this health care debate so frustrating, so stalled, and so broken.
Previously, Senator Lieberman apparently expressed support for a Medicare buy-in for those age 55 and over. Yet yesterday, he demanded that it be dropped from the Senate bill.
When Senator Lieberman draws a seemingly arbitrary line like this in the sand, when he continues to move goalposts for his support, and when his aim increasingly appears to be the chiseling down of a decent Democratic bill into an ineffective stump of bipartisan legislation, negotiations are not being made in good faith.
It's the same type of political gamesmanship we've seen from people like Republican Mark Kirk, who's also running for this Senate seat. It's taking a stand on a given issue purely for the sake of individual gain, rather than for the sake of progress for all. It's unprincipled, fickle "leadership" governed by the winds of self-interest and whispers of campaign contributors.
In this context, it is unfortunate that more focus has been paid to addressing the desires of individual Senators like Senator Lieberman than to steadfastly addressing the urgent needs of millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans.
But changing a broken system isn't easy.
During the presidential election, then-Senator Obama touched on how hard that change would be.
As wonderful as this gathering is, as exciting as these enormous crowds and this enormous energy may be, what we're trying to do here is not easy, and it will not happen overnight.
It is going to take more than big rallies. It's going to require more than rousing speeches. It will also require more than policy papers and positions and Web sites. It is going to require something more, because the problem that we face in America today is not the lack of good ideas. It's that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die...
Washington is indeed the place where good ideas go to die. Good ideas, like the public health insurance option or Medicare expansion, are suffocated by the stench wafting off K-Street. Progress too often falls victim to the status quo, strangled quietly by the hold of special interests.
With half a dozen health care lobbyists per member, and with millions spent against health care reform each day, it’s not surprising that we find ourselves here today, no longer debating truly "good" ideas but negotiating what will be "good enough" to pass the U.S. Senate.
It’s frustrating to peer over the horizon and see a stronger, better way to achieve health care reform, one that appears unattainable today by virtue of current circumstance.
It’s tempting to let the same disappointment that dampens our spirit today dampen our resolve.
But moments like this remind us why change is more than a slogan or campaign promise—it’s a process.
This is why we need more Democrats in the Senate. Better Democrats beholden only to the interests of the American people.
No single election can mend a broken system overnight. No single candidate or Senator can transform an institution that's been bought and paid for by special interests for generations.
But we can, seat by seat, seed the Senate with the type of principled, progressive leaders that will speak for the American people, not the special interests.
This ability to change the game—one race at a time—is what it means to strive for a "more perfect union."
This is why, whatever the outcome on health insurance reform, progressives will fight on.
This is why I’m running, and why I refuse to let corporate PACs and federal lobbyists pay for my campaign.
And this is why I hope you’ll join me, and every other candidate out there looking at Washington today not just with disappointment, but with a renewed resolve to keep pushing forward, towards that uncompromising principle of affordable, accessible health care for all.