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Dealing with Political Reality
Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union, seems to be doing just that …
Our message is that it’s time for the Senate to finish its job. We probably have the best we are going to do, and trying to improve the Senate bill doesn’t seem realistic right now. The real final chapter in this story is going to be written in the conference committee.
Regarding what to ask for in conference, Stern says …
I think there are certain issues here that are far less ideological or principled–and we can make progress there. Whether subsidies are, for the sake of argument, at 300 or 400 of the poverty level is a money issue, not a principle issue. I’m not saying that you don’t have to come up with the money somehow. But if it’s deficit neutral, so we pay for the extra subsidies, then I don’t think there’s a serious ideological or principled argument against that. It’s not like there are senators taking a stand against better affordability.
There are, on the other hand, certain areas where it’s harder to see changes, like the Medicare buy-in and the public option.
Mr. Stern seems to have a far more pragmatic take on the art of the doable than many of his counterparts on the left.
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Patrick Appel spotlights more chatter on real-world politics.
One Response to “Dealing with Political Reality”
Sorry Pete but I am getting tired of “pragmatic” as a synonym for playing into the status quo. As commenters have noted on various threads, there are many truly pragmatic steps that can be taken to start tackling the issue, have widespread support and make logical and consistent sense. Of course those aren't taken up in part because they don't hand the industry massive amounts of money. This is true in general and it is always overlooked for broad sweeping generalizations that pass under “it could be worse” arguments that amount to little more than bribing the American populace to sit still and be good while getting ripped off.