That being said, getting rid of the excise tax would only eliminate the way we pay for "reform" - it doesn't make the underlying bill a thing of beauty; it may not even raise it to the level of just being mediocre.

Before Obama took office, I think people did have hope that things would improve; even I, who did not vote for him, at least recognized that there could be positive implications from Democrats having both the WH and the Congress.  Wrong.  And the list of reasons why is a long one.

So, now we sit, one year later, forced to acknowledge that the party has been taken over by rightward-leaning, over-conciliatory, too-anxious-to-please-the-opposition politicians with unbreakable ties to deep, deep corporate pockets, leaving us with the unacceptable choice of rejecting every liberal/progressive plank of the platform by continuing to support these alien beings, or just staying home.

Staying home seems like, by far, the better choice.  By miles and miles.  I mean, if voting for Democrats gets us Republican policies and Republican legislation, what's the point?  Democrats might as well announce that the "old" Republicans are now the Republican'ts, since they say "no" to everything, and we will be the Republicans, because we, well, "can."  "Can what?" seems to be wholly irrelevant to the party poo-bahs.

Unless something dramatic happens this whole thing will get dropped and Obama and Co. will move on to their new "populous" agenda.  

The word is Obama and Co. are completely disengaged from the process and are letting Pelosi and Reid fiddle around while this thing dies away.

I wouldn't be surprised if Obama makes quick if no reference to it in his state of the union.  If he mentions it, it will be only to give himself a  pat on the back for trying and then an explanation how he moved us closer to what will ultimately be the change we need blah, blah blah.

So many "luminaries," so few copy editors.  (There are other parts of the overly long letter that also are grammatically awful, but the cc is the best.)

They are looking foolish for many reasons.

"A congressperson's first job is to get re-elected" - Sam Rayburn.

Those in the House whose re-election is in jeopardy, & who supported the House bill, are on record as having supported what will become a failed bill subject to whatever characterization their GOP opponents choose to give it.  Their only hope is to get a better bill now with more immediate & easily understood benefits for their voters.  No group more so than Blue Dogs who, whether they voted for the House bill or not, will be guilty by association.

Democratic senators, for the most part, do not have the immediate re-election problem facing House Democrats.  Yet, they know they can't afford to let the GOP win this when a majority of Dem senators support action now.  Reconciliation is the only available means left for them to avoid catastrophe.

Obama ceded too much to the policy wonks who were devising intricate schemes to show they could cut the deficit. He took his eye of off the political imperative of keeping middle America in his corner.