I don’t mean that President Barack Obama has lost the fight. I only mean that it’s that important politically.<\/p>\n
The town hall rowdies and the Nazi ‘death panel’ rhetoric have truly defined the debate in this sense: There is only victory or defeat.<\/p>\n
There cannot be delay, or incrementalism, or a changing of the topic.<\/p>\n
On Mr. Obama’s side he has large congressional majorities, the mandate of his recent election, and fairly strong approval ratings, both for himself and for some substantial form of reform.<\/p>\n
On the other side, substantive argument — the kind that would have improved and shaped the reform effort — has been largely eclipsed by vitriol, race-anger and flagrant deception.<\/p>\n
If the Democrats can’t prevail now, they will have been defeated not by Blue Dog centrism or bipartisanship but by pure hooliganism.<\/p>\n
Their new President will have been crippled by Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and gangs of people (some of them armed) carrying signs equating Mr. Obama with Adolph Hitler. <\/p>\n
If that prospect doesn’t stiffen the spine of party leaders, nothing will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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