In the aftermath of the health care vote

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In the aftermath of the health care vote
27 March 2010

In the aftermath of the passage of the health care bill, there have
been various acts of right-wing vandalism and intimidation against
congressional Democrats who voted for the legislation last week. Death
threats have been issued by phone and email, and bricks have been
thrown through the windows of Democratic Party offices in New York,
Ohio, Kansas and Arizona.

These acts are largely the work of fascistic elements—in many cases,
borderline lunatics—whose sociopathic conceptions are inspired and
incited by the reactionary tirades that are the daily and standard
fare of talk radio in the United States.

According to press reports, more than 100 Democratic members of the
House of Representatives attended a closed-door meeting on Wednesday
with the FBI and the US Capitol police. They discussed what one of
those present called “serious concern” about security both in
Washington and in their home districts during the spring recess, which
has just begun.

There is, no doubt, a danger of violence against individual members of
Congress. However, there is little evidence that the threats and acts
that have occurred during the past week are manifestations of a mass
right-wing movement. Rather, one has the impression that the media has
been intent on inflating the scale and political significance of the
opposition from the extreme right.

For what purpose? There is no doubt that Obama’s health care
legislation enjoys the support of the most powerful sections of the
financial and corporate elite. While marketing the legislation, for
popular consumption, as a “reform” that will provide coverage for
millions who have been uninsured, it has always been understood within
the elite that the central purpose of the legislation was to
substantially reduce the costs of providing health care for the broad
mass of the working population.

Indeed, it has been the veiled and ambiguous references to reducing
Medicare payments, eliminating “unnecessary tests,” etc., that has
fueled widespread popular suspicion that the Obama administration was
not telling the people the truth about the purpose and ultimate effect
of its proposed “reform.” Moreover, the fact that Obama rapidly
abandoned his commitment to a “public option”—which had been
proclaimed by liberal supporters as the absolutely essential
prerequisite of any serious reform of the health care system—shattered
the political credibility of the entire enterprise.

The growing public hostility led to the electoral debacle suffered by
the Democratic Party in the “liberal” bastion of Massachusetts, the
one state where the type of individual “mandate” included in the
overhaul had already been tested. The Senate seat of the late Edward
Kennedy went to a Republican who vowed to provide the “41st vote”
against the health care bill.

In the immediate aftermath of the election—which was widely recognized
as a devastating repudiation of Obama’s legislation by the Democratic
Party’s working class constituency—the administration and the
Democratic congressional leadership executed a dramatic shift in
strategy and tactics.

The Obama White House, which had justified its gutting of the “public
option” and countless other concessions in the name of
“bi-partisanship,” declared that it would press for the passage of the
legislation without any Republican support. Significantly, however,
this shift was not accompanied by the repudiation of previous
concessions. Instead, Obama proceeded to make further concessions to
the most reactionary elements within the Democratic Party itself,
including on the issue of abortion.

Within the House and Senate, the Democratic leaders—who normally do
not dare visit the restroom without begging the Republicans for
permission—suddenly assumed a stance of vehement determination. Having
for decades insisted that no law could be enacted without a
“super-majority” of 60 votes, they suddenly devised a strategy in
which a majority of one would be sufficient to pass the bill.

What was the source of the newfound courage of the Democrats? Quite
simply, their masters on Wall Street and in the most powerful
corporate boardrooms made it clear that they wanted the legislation
passed.

For its part, the Republican Party leadership was left in the lurch.
To the extent that its political strategy relies on keeping the most
right-wing elements in a perpetual state of uproar, they were
unprepared for the shift in the winds. Signs of a certain tactical
disorientation were evident in their attempts to portray as a
socialist measure the health care overhaul, which the corporate elite
supports as an initial attack on social spending.

In the final days of the health care “debate,” the shift in the media
was as dramatic as that in the White House and the Congress. The
Republican opposition was portrayed as obstructionist and worse.
Normally, the media ignores the associations of Republican legislators
with fascist elements. But on the eve of the final vote on the bill,
the major networks gave huge play to a motley crowd of racists and
homophobes screaming epithets at Democratic congressmen.

In the aftermath of the passage of the bill, the media has largely
endorsed the efforts of the Obama administration to portray the
legislation as a monumental act of reform. Opposition to the bill is
being presented as a right-wing phenomenon. The focus on the violence
of the extreme right is an attempt to silence and discredit the
far-more widespread doubts and concerns of countless millions of
working people.

Of course, the violence should not be dismissed. It does reflect deep
tensions arising out of an objective crisis. However, the great danger
for the working class is that mass opposition remains subordinate to
the Democratic Party and does not find a progressive, socialist
outlet. It is under these conditions that the growth of an extreme
right-wing movement, infused with populist demagogy, will become a
real threat.

David North and Joe Kishore

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/pers-m27.shtml

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