Shame on Max Baucus for killing the public option

(This article will be featured in the New University on Monday)

There was one a moment in the history of the health reform bill (H.R 3200) where passing reform through Congress seemed like an easy task--and it was. That was back in early August. That was before the health care bill met Sen. Max Baucus. Since the bill came in contact with Baucus it has been ripped, shredded, smeared--the works, and it is mostly because of Sen. Baucus.
On August 1st, H.R 3200 had passed through four out of five committees in the senate with relative ease. Ideally, the bill was supposed to pass through the fifth with the same grace. Obviously that was not the case. Why? Sen. Baucus called for a bi-partisan effort and stopped the bill dead in its tracks to make the infamous "gang of six", composed of conservative democrats and allegedly moderate republicans (if you can call Sen. Grassley a moderate). Since then the health reform bill has been cut down inch by inch and has been muddled with countless concessions and compromises--one of those compromises including the public option. Now, bi-partisanship is wonderful, however it has been more than evident the republicans are just looking to kill any bill that is proposed. So, here we are today, with a health care bill watered down with concessions Sen. Baucus has given away, still with no republican votes. Sen. Baucus is literally destroying proper health reform-- and now he is paying the price for it with his political career.
As of late, certain liberal organizations such as Progressive Campaign Change Committee and Democracy for America have retaliated against Sen. Baucas with ads that calls on the American public to hold Sen. Baucus responsible for watering down and stalling health reform and killing the public option. In the ads, set to air in Montana and Washington D.C, Baucus is slammed for receiving upwards of a million in campaign contributions from the health care industry, and is threatened with a loss in the primary elections in 2010. The ads features a man, named Bing Perrine, from Baucus' state, Montana, who has racked up $100,000 in debt from medical bills due to heart problems. Perrine closes the ad directing a rhetorical question towards Sen. Baucus, "who's side are you really on?".
Unfortunately, this type of hardball politics is what pro-reform activists need. It seems as if without them--without these ads--nothing productive will get done on the left side of the isle. This is not to say however, politicians should never make mistakes if they have a hope for getting re-elected. If Sen. Baucus created the "gang of six", realized the Republicans wanted no part of bi-partisanship and then fought to keep health care reform strong, that would have been appropriate. However, that is not what happened. Sen. Baucus continued to make the same stupid mistake of assuming, or allowing, the GOP was there to help pass reform. This level of ignorance at such a crucial time such as this one is utterly unacceptable, and Baucus should be held accountable for his disregard of proper reform. As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". Sen. Baucus has been fooled for two whole months. So shame on you Sen. Baucus--you do not deserve to be re-elected.
Of course it is important to note not all of the blame can be put on Sen. Baucus. A number of democrats have had this same attitude of appeasement; they too have been targeted. Sen. Mike Ross and independent Sen. Olympia Snowe have had similar ads run against them. While any democrat without a spine at this point deserves to have their political career put in jeopardy, the person who deserves the ads the most is Sen. Baucus. He had the most power to pass reform in the senate and he failed miserably. He watered down the bill for republican votes, but got none. The, when he realized he had no republican votes, he did not have the piece of mind to strengthen the bill again. Worst of all, he voted against adding a public option in the bill during the amendment process. He is the reason a public option becomes a less likely of an option every day. He deserves those ads against more than anyone else in the senate. He should have to reap what he sewed.