Jane Norton, PatToomey, Mike Castle, Rob Portman, Mark KirkAND Rob Simmons everyone is watching Harry Reid’s efforts on Obamacare with great interest and mixed emotions.
Each of these declared U.S. Senate candidates – the leaders of the GOP nominations in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Illinois and Connecticut, respectively – are aware of the growing backlash against Democrats across the country, as Obama-Pelosi-Reid said tilt to the left first causes concern , and then outrages millions of Americans. They know their candidacies are gaining strength with daily news of another move left by D.C. Democrats. But they also know that the country’s economy is suffering even as their political prospects improve because of the Democrats’ obvious incompetence and ideological extremism.
(You can contribute to Norton here, Toomey here, Castle here, Portman here, Kirk here AND Simmons here.)
While we don’t know how the final vote on Obamacare will go, or even approximately what the final bill will look like, we do know that each version cuts Medicare benefits and forces gigantic premium increases for seniors living on fixed incomes from depressed wallets and stagnates premiums for social security.
We know for a fact that any version of Obamacare comes with tax increases, both direct and indirect.
We know for a fact that if any version of Obamacare is passed, tens of thousands of doctors will retire.
We also know that any version of the public plan that goes into effect despite the opposition of the entire council will put the country on a path to Canadian-style single-payer medicine.
Republican Party candidates, such as those listed above, as well as whoever emerges as the favorite in Arkansas against Democrat Blanche Lincoln, in Indiana against Democrat Evan Bayh, in California against Democrat Barbara Boxer, and in Nevada against Harry Reid himself, will all be campaigning on the votes over the next few weeks, especially the vote for Reid’s bill and open debate.
Democrats like Michael Bennet of Colorado, Bayh of Indiana and Lincoln of Arkansas may try to hide behind a possible “no” vote on some final version of Obamacare, but their vote to open the debate will be the vote that will define them for next year. Bayh, Bennet and Lincoln have the power to block Obamacare and its disastrous impact on American medicine and the quality of life of seniors. When they vote to debate Obamacare, they are voting to cut Medicare for hundreds of thousands of seniors in their state and raise taxes on every voter in their state. They won’t be able to mask this demanding fact, no matter how much dust they kick up over the next 12 months. Every Democrat in the Senate has the power to block Obamacare. It’s the Bennet Act, the Bayh Act, and the Lincoln Act if they vote yes in the opening debate.
A similar stark political reality faces every so-called “Blue Dog Democrat” in the House. The 2010 congressional races will be defined by moving Obama, Pelosi and Reid to the left. Any candidate with a “D” after their name runs with a photo of the president on one arm and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the other. Pelosi doesn’t care that she’s endangering the jobs of dozens of her so-called colleagues. He is betting that no matter how great the defeat next fall, he will survive as speaker with a few votes.
At-risk Democratic officials do not have to accept this fate. Each of them can stop the train heading towards his personal cliff. Evan Bayh must remember 1980, when the Republican wave kicked his father out of the Senate. The growing resentment of Obamacare and the fiscal recklessness of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid program is so great that even “safe” senators like Bayh are feeling the growing voter revolt. Connecticut’s Chris Dodd and Barbara Boxer feel it too, but they can’t do anything but drive further and further to the left, an all-in strategy dictated by long records they can’t escape.
But not Bayh, Bennet and Licnoln. They can’t just get off the Obamacare train. They can stop it.
One way to send a message to Democrats is to make some donations to the Republican candidates listed above. Every single one of them is against Obamacare. Toomey is the most conservative of the group and Mark Kirk is the most moderate, but they are all against Obamacare. Send $10 to everyone, or even more if you can afford it. The tea parties and marches caught the attention of Democrats. A surge in miniature donations to various candidates will heat things up.
