"Is health-care reform stabilizing?"

Is health-care reform stabilizing?

It's been a bad day for health-care reform. Maybe the worst it's endured so far. A week ago, people were writing victory speeches. Today, they were trying out language for epitaphs. But by nightfall, the situation seemed to be stabilizing a bit.

Barney Frank walked back his unexpected comment that health care was dead now that Democrats only had 59 seats in the Senate. "I have realized that my statement last night was more pessimistic than is called for," he said, admitting that he had been "perhaps overreacting." Later on, he told Brian Beutler that "I'm strongly inclined to vote for the thing."

News that Barack Obama had told ABC that he wanted a pared-down bill led to instant and aggressive push back from the White House. As they pointed out, he didn't actually say that in the interview (it was a reporter's interpretation), and they released their own statement saying his preferences remain constant (though the statement is notably vague). Sources also say that the White House is letting the immediate shock of Brown's election settle, and that the president will be significantly more involved in the days to come.

Meanwhile, staffers who attended today's meeting of Senate Democrats said they were comforted that the moderates in the room wanted to see the House pass the Senate bill rather than give up on health care altogether. They also said there's a recognition that passing nothing at all is electorally unthinkable.

Consonant with that, Senator Kent Conrad, chairman of the Budget Committee, said he's open to using the reconciliation process to modify the bill, a key admission if the House is going to pass the Senate legislation.

None of this is to downplay the blow health-care reform received last night. The odds of passage have gone from extremely good to considerably worse. If the bill does survive, it is likely to be weaker, smaller and less progressive than would otherwise have been the case. Democrats have completely stopped speaking about what's important in the legislation and let process and electoral uneasiness overwhelm the conversation. But where chaos reigned this morning, something more closely related to calm is returning tonight.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/01/is_health-care_reform_stabiliz.html