Health Care On the Brink

With President Obama's health care reform plan in danger of falling apart, thanks largely to lies and town hall meeting disruptions Republicans have perpetrated with their smear tactics, some observers are wondering if things would be very different if Ted Kennedy were still available.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who's been at home in Hyannis for much of the year fighting a cancerous brain tumor, is not expected to last through the health care debate, much less to the end of his term in January 2013. Therefore, he hasn't been in Washington to help smooth out the rough edges on the health care issue between factions within the Democratic party and to bring in some Republicans, some of whom (like Orrin Hatch, who refuses to participate in the health care debate any further) are among Kennedy's friends.

Be that as it may, Kennedy himself knows that he won't be a part of the debate on an issue he's fought for for most of his tenure in the Senate, and may not even live long enough to vote on the bill - that is, if a bill ever gets through. The irony is monumental. Therefore, he has written Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, another Democrat, to ask the legislature for the right to appoint an interim U.S. Senator once Kennedy's seat goes vacant through death or resignation. The seat would remain vacant until up to 160 days to allow for a special election under current Massachusetts law.

Obama lacks both Tom Daschle at the helm of the Health and Human Services Department and Ted Kennedy in the Senate. Both Daschle, a former Senate Democratic leader, and Kennedy, in office since 1962, are seen as the most experienced people in Washington with health care expertise who can make Obama's reforms happen and get enough Democratic votes for something like a public option. My mother dismissed the idea of Daschle or Kennedy being indispensable on the grounds that this issue doesn't hinge on one or two people.

Umm, it kind of does.

And, thanks to the rhetorical equivalents of dirty bombs Republicans have been setting off in this debate, now more than ever.