Decision Sunday: We're Still Waiting

Decision Sunday has arrived.

Today was the day we were supposed to learn whether or
not the Rube Goldberg contraption known as Health Care
Reform was finally going to pass the House.

As of 12:00 noon PDT Sunday, March 21, we're still waiting.

And nothing substantial seems to have changed in the
last few days.

Oh, to be sure, a few stragglers on the Democratic side
were rounded up and corralled by the President.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, a tireless campaigner
for economic justice and for Universal Single-Payer
coverage (the ONLY reform that in my mind makes
sense), finally succumbed to Obama's persuasion
and is now on board.

So also were local Las Vegas Reps. Shelley Berkely
and Dina Titus, albeit reluctantly. In Titus' case,
as she represents an increasingly conservative
district in suburban Las Vegas, her "yes" vote
on Health Care Reform may well be "political
suicide", according to the Las Vegas Sun.

But, suicidal or not, these folks are now committed.

On the other side of the aisle, though, The GOP is
facing no such atmosphere of arm-twisting and high
pressure.

Their lock-step sense of disciplined opposition to
the Obama plan, has, if anything, grown stronger
in the last few days. As House Minority Leader
John Boehner confidently predicted, there will
be zero Republican votes for the measure. And I
believe him.

Just look at the events of the last few days. Nancy
Pelosi's plan to use legislative sleight-of-hand to
"deem" the Senate's Bill "passed" without further
amendment or alteration went nowhere, not only
because of Republican opposition but also due to
the Senate's fears that the House would do something
to the bill the Senate could not accept.

Majority leader Harry Reid quietly let it be known
that anything other than an "up or down" vote on
the Senate's Bill "As Is" would not sit well in his
chamber with either party. And that was that.

But regardless of how the House votes, whenever it does
take place, I believe we have not seen the last of the issue.

If the House makes any changes to the Senate bill, (and
I believe they will), the whole thing will again have
to go to a conference committee, and the whole horse-trading,
log-rolling and sausage-making process will start all over.

And if that happens, I predict that this time it will self-
destruct, handing the GOP a popular victory and
leaving the President's coffers of political capital
empty.

But then again, maybe not - but as of right now,
we're still waiting.