the official blog of the evergreen freedom foundation

How does the old song go? "What a difference a day makes - 24 little hours." Yesterday, Congressional leaders were filled with bravado and bluster about how they had the health care-wind at their back, it was full steam ahead, and a tax bill for the government option would soon be in a mail box near you.

 

Then we had an election - now all bets are off.

 

Not only are there unresolved issues in Congress, but were back to where, in the Senate, there isn't a bill at all. No wonder Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is hedging his bets on when (if???) a bill will make it through Congress.

 

After yesterday's election results, a lot of pundits are predicting a funeral for Obama Care. The New Jersey and Virginia governors races, it's claimed, were a stunning repudiation of the Obama agenda on health care and other issues.

 

Not so fast. It's not that they weren't - it's that, like we've seen before on this issue, health care legislation has more lives than Freddy Krueger. But it's nowhere near as handsome.

 

The problem with political death predictions is that they lull people into a false sense of security, which then let's the corpse crawl up out of the ground to live and bedevil us again.

 

Watch for slight changes in strategy that seek to blunt the effect of what happened at the polls yesterday. Like the Reid waffling on the eventual timing of a bill, putting it off may be a strategy to hide it for a while until things blow over. Remember, these are politicians who act in their own interests irrespective of what voters say at the polls.

 

Certainly many on the left don't think yesterday blunts health care momentum.

 

In the meantime, health care legislation has some equally-ugly siblings. Take the measure by California Rep. George Miller to require employers to provide paid sick leave when they tell an employee not to show up for work if he or she is too ill. What's this going to cost? How many jobs will this kill? Heaven only knows.

 

One thing to watch for is whether any so-called moderate Senators or Blue Dog Congressmen start sounding like Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Following his lead may be their portal out of a political black hole for those who think voters might turn on them when it's their turn in the box. In the days ahead, listen carefully to the way they parse their words.

 

At a minimum, yesterday's election returns offer hope.

 

The Piper