Healthcare reform (avec bichon frise)
June 10th, 2010 at 9:35 pm ET
Having just finished Jonathan Cohn’s monumental TNR feature on the mechanics of the healthcare reform legislative win, “How They Did It”, I’m left with one question reverberating in my brain above all else:
Kent Conrad has a bichon frise? **
But seriously, folks: lots of exciting horserace detail here. The whole thing is worth reading (and, while you’re at it, subscribe to TNR to help keep this stuff coming), but here for your perusal is a sample of what makes this story so interesting:
- All that death-panels folderol originated in an amendment (permitting reimbursement for end-of-life counseling) that came from a Republican, Johnny Isaakson of Georgia.
- The net impact of Joe Wilson’s “you lie!” during the President’s September address was to galvanize Democrats into pushing forward. And, at that time, the Administration had a backup bill in their pocket in case Max Baucus didn’t move.
- The October AHIP report was so transparent an attempt to game the vote that it had the effect of solidifying Democratic support in the Finance Committee.
- Rules Committee chair Louise Slaughter skipped her own committee meeting so she wouldn’t have to preside over the vote that inserted the Stupak amendment.
- The February summit helped buy time for support for the final compromise to build. “It just froze the game,” says John Podesta.
Cohn makes a special point of acknowledging the critical role that Max Baucus played — he may have weakened the bill, from a progressive perspective, but if he’d walked off the field (and he was pressured plenty hard to do so), the game would have been over. And he didn’t walk.
A nice sum-up from Neera Tanden, an adviser to Kathleen Sebelius: “People like to second-guess, but, at the time, with the information we had, almost every controversial decision was a series of hard calls — fifty-five percent to forty-five percent at best.” Cohn marshals plenty of evidence that the whole thing could have fallen apart at virtually any point over a period of year and a half for two dozen different reasons. Like any significant legislative achievement, the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is nothing short of a confluence of miracles.
And then there’s this quote from an unnamed Democratic House aide, which I think alone is worth the $4.95 cover price: “There was a guy at a caucus who stood up and said [to Pelosi], ‘Nancy, there’s an ad in my district, and it’s with you and me, which would be nice, but we’re both being struck by lightning.’”
Great reporting, well written — again, subscribe to TNR. It’s full of stuff like this every week — and unlike your iPad, it works in the bathtub.
[Obama] also showered gifts on Conrad’s dog, a white bichon frise named “Dakota,” which Conrad sometimes totes to his office. The doggie gifts even came with a personal note — “Rahm idea, Obama execution,” says one administration official.
– Jonathan Cohn, “How They Did It,” The New Republic, June 10, 2010, p. 19.
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Rich Mintz blogs on online fundraising and social media, American history and culture, bicycling and urbanism, food, technology, and other topics. Professionally, he's an expert in fundraising, constituency development, and social media for nonprofits, cultural organizations, cause-related marketers, and corporations. He is based in New York, where he serves as Vice President, Strategy, for 
