I hear Sen. Maria Cantwell may make a floor speech in the Senate sometime soon to explain her opposition / ambivalence toward the public option for health care reform. I’m looking forward to hearing it, because it’s hard to figure out why she wouldn’t be in favor of the idea.
Nate Silver crunched the numbers and, allowing for contributions from the health insurance industry, still put the probability that Cantwell would support the public option at 81 percent. Many of her colleagues from Washington State are in favor of the public option. The president has spoken in support of it, and national polling shows Americans overwhelmingly in favor of the idea.
The only thing I can figure is that Cantwell’s reluctance relates to her position on the Senate Finance Committee, which is one of two key committees in the Senate working on that chamber’s health care proposal. The idea of pushing health care cooperatives instead of the public plan, as Cantwell has been doing, emerged from that committee. In the baroque internal politics of the Senate, it may be smart for Cantwell to keep her head down and support an idea that more senior members of her committee are pushing.
But in the politics of Washington State, it’s dumb. The problem Maria Cantwell has always had in this state is that people don’t know what she stands for. Her best-known political stance: an achingly slow transformation on the Iraq war, which put her on the wrong side of her political base for a very long time and only added to the sense that she doesn’t have a clear political identity. And here she has a chance to lead on an issue that hits every Washingtonian in the pocket book and the heart, health care.
And she’s blowing it.
What if Maria Cantwell was the Senator on the Finance Committee who was fighting loudly against the coop compromise? What if she dug in and demanded the committee’s bill emerge with a public option intact? She might lose in committee votes and negotiations, but she’d win huge political points back home. Hell, she’d be a hero (or a martyr, which might be even better) in a lot of quarters.
Standing up to Ted Stevens, as Cantwell did a while back, is easy and a political no-brainer. Standing up to centrist Democrats who want to water down real health care reform? That’s hard and takes political courage. But the liberal base here in Washington would remember it far longer, and respect it much more, than some tussle with an already-reviled Republican.
It’s also the kind of thing that could help Cantwell build up an identity of political conviction—which she doesn’t currently have, and would probably be nice to develop by 2012, when she’s up for reelection.
We may not know what she stands for, and we may well know about her reputation as a cold , aloof individual, yet we overwhelmingly reelected her just 2.5 years ago. She’s got another 3.5 years until her next election…an eternity. Plus, it’s not like another Dem will challenge her. Face it, Cantwell can do whatever she damn well pleases without any accountability back home.
re-election?
what about being vice president next time
or fucking president in 2016???
The real problem is us Washingtonians are just to bland, boring and “don’t get excited” to demand much out of our representatives.
Remember that commernce secretary, what’s-his-name. Wow, he’s really leading the commerce part of out national debate.
And remember our governor who’s too scared to raise taxes, she’s a great leader, yawn.
Didn’t even TRY for a cabinet post. Very deep lack of ambition, when with her background negotiating tobacco settleement she would have been perfect for health and human services instead of the nonentity from Kansas. KANSAS!!! Obama didn’t even fucking win KANSAS our governor was way out front for him. But no, showing amibition would be “bragging too much.”
Yup, we prefer boring, bland, centrist and don’t get excited, this is why Cantwell will do NOTHING to lead and she will get re-elected and not one of us — not one of us with any viability — will challenge her.
Come on stop dreaming — Baird did a 180 on the Iraq war and we couldn’t find anyone to even hint at running against him.
Boring, bland, and unsuited for national leadership, that’s us.
Our elected officials are exactly what we want and deserve.
she’s rich (and fucking lucky she is rich). as senator, she serves the interests of the rich. that’s what she stands for. and that’s what the senate is for.
I haven’t heard much at all about her since she was elected. I’m thinking that if she doesn’t face a serious challenger in the primary, I may just vote Republican for that Senate spot to shake her up.
Anyone else feeling the urge to fax Cantwell all our medical bills with a polite request for her to pay, perhaps out of the money the insurance industry is about to start contributing to her next campaign?
Ok, I’ve contacted Maria Cantwell about supporting a public option. Will you? http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/
If you want to fax her your medical bills, I think that would be fantastic. You might not want her staffers to have all that information about you though, because they are often Cranky McStinkypantses.
actually, she’s a bit shy – you misinterpret that as cold and aloof. but keep pushing on this issue, nonetheless.
I’ve personally never voted for her. Once I voted against Slade Gorton, followed by a vote against Mike McInsurance Executive. Apparently, not being a Republican is enough.
She doesn’t have to worry about ever being reelected (she’ll be senator-for-life if she wants), but having good relationships with more senior senators could make her a more effective legislator. Her incentives are such that it’s more important to please her colleagues than her constituents.
Plus the co-op plan is rooted in health care systems we have going here in Washington (Group Health, Puget Sound Health Alliance) so she can tout our state to other senators as an innovator.