It begins...abandon ye ship....

[kokonut]

Democratic leaders and the White House insisted ahead of the vote they aren’t preparing to desert health care. They admit they’ll have to come up with a new strategy to win passage, but said they didn’t want to allow one Senate race to take them off-course on the president’s top legislative item for the year.

But several House members said Tuesday night that they had no interest in pursuing the most likely scenario for moving ahead with a bill — approving the already-passed Senate version of health reform in the House – and some said President Barack Obama should step back and start over.

In fact, early signs of split emerged as the polls closed in Massachusetts – between leaders like Majority Leader Steny Hoyer who said “the Senate bill is better than nothing,” and individual members who didn’t want to swallow the Senate’s version of health reform whole…

“If it comes down to that Senate bill or nothing, I think we are going to end with nothing because I don’t hear a lot of support on our side for that bill,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)

The fallout: Democrats rethinking health care bill - Carrie Budoff Brown and Patrick O'Connor - POLITICO.com

 

[kokonut]

Capitulation....

Obama insisted today that the Senate wait for Brown to be seated before they make any changes to its version of the health care reform legislation. …

“Here’s one thing I know and I just want to make sure that this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn’t try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated,” the president said. “The people of Massachusetts spoke. He’s got to be part of that process.”

“I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on,” he said.

The president said there are “core elements” to the health care legislation that both Republican and Democrats agree on and they must come together to work for comprehensive reform.

“We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don’t, then our budgets are going to blow up,” he said. “And we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance for their families. Those are the core, some of the core elements of this bill.”

President Obama on Scott Brown Massachusetts Victory - ABC News

I wonder how long this promise will last? Remember when he insisted, yes, insisted that the bill be passed before Christmas. Now, he's saying, whoooa, slow down now and wait for Scott Brown. Right. Just to look a bit less liberal and combative than to, God forbid, shove a health care bill down everybody's threat complete with jail time and fines. Interesting on how Obama spent most of his political capital for all of 2009 for this health care bill to nowhere....er...