Nancy Pelosi to Ram Through Health Care Reform by Saturday

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinks she has learned the lesson of the thrashing Democrats took in the elections in New Jersey and Virginia. Pelosi will try to force a vote on health care reform on Saturday.

Nancy Pelosi can spin the idea that Democrats really won because of two special Congressional elections, but she surely cannot believe the spin. Otherwise the only conclusion one can reach is that the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insane.

However it is more likely that Nancy Pelosi knows exactly what the 2009 elections means. However, instead of shying away from an unpopular health care reform bill stuffed with mandates, tax hikes, and Medicare cuts, Nancy Pelosi proposes to ram the bill through the House anyway. The sooner the better.

The idea is to get the bill passed quickly, by any means necessary, before wavering House members lose their collective nerve. Every hour that passes means more awareness of what a disaster the House version of health care reform is. The more awareness, the more likely that House members in swing or marginal districts will refuse to follow Nancy Pelosi into the abyss.

If Nancy Pelosi and her whip team can twist a few arms and break a few legs, then health care reform will have passed the House. The century old dream of the Left to seize control of health care, with all the attended means of controlling peoples' lives, will be a giant step forward.

However it may be too late. The Wall Street Journal reports that as of Wednesday, Speaker Pelosi did not have the votes to pass health care reform. A popular protest has taken place on the Capitol Steps which will then involve people roaming the halls of Congress, button holing their members, and telling them not to vote for health care reform.

It is quite possible that Nancy Pelosi's attempt to ram through health care reform will fail. Even if it succeeds, the version in the United States Senate will not be ready until at least January, 2010. 2010 starts a new election cycle during which members of Congress will be even more reluctant to vote in favor of something that so many people find anathema.

Meanwhile the House Republicans have their own version of health care reform which is more modest in scope, but based on market principles. The GOP bill will not pass, of course, but the point will have been made.

If Nancy Pelosi falls short and has to pull the bill before Saturday, it will be a huge embarrassment for House Democrats. If, however, Nancy Pelosi succeeds in ramming through health care reform, it will force House Democrats to vote on a measure that will come back to haunt them on Election Day, 2010. It will make the coming political tsunami into Noah's flood.

Sources: House Democrats Push for Saturday Health Vote, Janet Adamy and Martin Vaughn, Wall Street Journal, November 5th, 2009

10,000 Rally Against Obamacare, The Heritage Foundation, November 5th, 2009