Eugene Robinson: Missing: Democrats’ Passion

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090821_missing_democrats_passion/

Missing: Democrats’ Passion

Posted on Aug 21, 2009

By Eugene Robinson

snip//

Step back from the health care debate for a moment and survey the landscape. Democrats are within sight of a goal that has fired the party’s dreams for half a century. They have the power to enact meaningful reform. Polls show that Americans are hungry for reform. The solid wall of opposition once presented by big business has crumbled. Even the insurance companies and Big Pharma are ready to deal. Yet somehow we’ve gotten sidetracked onto an argument about “death panels,” while a provision that many advocates believe is central to effective reform—a government-run, public health insurance—is suddenly in doubt.

How could this happen? The Pew survey suggests, basically, that Republicans are more passionate about the health care issue than Democrats.

According to Pew, those who would be “pleased” if health care reforms proposed by Obama and Congress are enacted outnumber those who would be “disappointed.” But when you look at those who feel most passionately about the issue, just 15 percent say they would be “very happy” if the reforms go through, while 18 percent say they would be “angry.” Among Republicans, a full 38 percent would be angry if health care reform finally passes—but among Democrats, just 13 percent would be angered if it doesn’t.

It’s hard to argue that anger, per se, is something we need more of in American politics. But passion—which sometimes, yes, finds expression in anger—is a powerful and legitimate tool. Health care reform is something the Democratic Party has been trying to achieve since the Truman administration, and only 13 percent of Democrats would be angry if it fails? Only 27 percent of Democrats would be “very happy” if reform passes, according to Pew, while 42 percent could only bestir themselves to feel “pleased” that the Grail long sought by the most beloved Democrat of all, ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, has finally been attained?

One reason for this imbalance of passion about health care reform, I believe, is that there still is no single piece of legislation around which Democrats—and others who see the need for reform—can rally. But it’s impossible to deny that the Republican strategy of generating anger and fear has also been a major factor.

Where are the millions who so passionately chanted “Yes, we can!” at Obama’s campaign rallies? Where are the legions who cried tears of joy on Election Night and tears of pride on Inauguration Day? Is Sarah Palin now the only politician capable of inspiring “passionate intensity”?

Passion finds expression in anger, but also in hope. Democrats knew and felt that during the campaign. If they forget it, they might as well also forget about achieving the kind of fundamental change that the country sorely needs.

most passionate health care segment on the left, and that would those who favor a single payer system.

When Obama so autocratically kicked single payer off the table late last year and early this year, he took the passion out of the fight. He then replaced it with nothing to write home about.

We can't even attempt to fight for the much less exciting and less popular Big strong effective public option since the plan all along looks like it was to bargain away the public option and instead bring about a federalization of the Romney Care plan that is currently floundering in Massachusetts. Just ask me how un-passionate and unexcited I am about that.

Very unpassionate.

So why is anybody surprised that people starved for meaningful reform aren't passionate about reform that has no meaning?