That’s the headline on a Politico story. We should certainly hope it’s true, but the health care issue is a zombie that will come back to life. The Democrats need it to hammer Republicans as uncaring right-wing zealots. The question for Democrats and policy wonks will be whether future health care reform proposals, perhaps even as soon as mid 2010, will be as sweeping or more incremental.
I’ve written here before that pro-lifers should take the credit for helping defeat Obamacare. It is a victory for the pro-life cause and a sensible health care policy, but there will be many more fights. Future health care bills will be stealthier and even if they don’t include abortion funding and death panels, they will open the door to them within an increasingly bureaucratic system.
Obamacare must still be formally defeated. A compromise to get 60 Senate votes is necessary to get the legislation closer to conference where leaders from both houses of Congress will have to reconcile irreconcilable bills. Pro-life Americans must continue to urge their elected representatives to defeat any bill that does not explicitly repudiate all taxpayer funding of abortion. That will guarantee there will not be enough House or Senate votes to pass Obamacare.
Oswald Clark is the economics reporter of The Interim and an Ottawa and Boston based economist.
