Healthcare Passage Helps Democrats in November

Kenneth T. Walsh

Walt Handelsman Dems Pass Healthcare Reform Healthcare Bill will cut deficit by $138 Billion

Congressional Republicans have taken such an adamant stand against the Democratic healthcare bill because they fear that passage would hurt their chances to recapture Congress in the fall elections, says White House counselor David Axelrod.

"I think the Republicans desperately want this bill to fail because they know that if it passes that they've lost the political advantage," Axelrod says.

He said GOP leaders have been campaigning publicly over the past year against the Democratic plan while President Obama and Democratic leaders have been focusing on ways to get the complex and evolving measure through the labyrinth of Congress.

The dynamic now changes as the measure has become law, Axelrod said, adding:

"If you pass it, people see the benefits that accrue to them," and GOP objections would be discredited.

"Essentially, what you see from the Republican Party is that too often there has been blind obstructionism and sort of inflicting failure on the country as a political strategy, thinking that the governing party and the president would take the blame for it," Axelrod said.

"The president is out there making a very honest, open case for why this is the right path for the country and for families across this country," the Obama adviser noted, "and my hope and expectation is that that will give encouragement to people in Congress who are making decisions in the closing days of this effort."

The White House strategy worked.

Two key Democrats who opposed the central version of the healthcare bill, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Dale Kildee of Michigan, announced their support for the measure.

"I think that the issues have been pretty well clarified over the last couple of weeks," Axelrod said. "It really is a question of whether consumers are going to get a fair shake and everyone is going to get a fair shake in this health insurance system or whether the health insurance industry is going to have a free rein. At the core, that's what this fight is about."

But the argument isn't just about the substance of healthcare reform.

Some Democrats say an additional imperative is maintaining Obama's effectiveness as president. A defeat on healthcare, his top domestic priority, could seriously weaken him, Obama's allies say.

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Healthcare Reform - Healthcare Passage Helps Democrats in November | Kenneth T. Walsh