Where's The Democrats' George Bush?

Geoff Garin in the Washington Post asks "Where's the GOP's Ted Kennedy?" In other words, Kennedy would make deals with Republicans to get bills passed, but Republicans are blocking health care reform. His examples, however, don't really bolster his case.

First there's the No Child Left Behind bill, which Kennedy sponsored. But that was a popular bill that had no trouble passing. Furthermore, federal education reform is more a Democrat issue, and most of the opposition to the bill came from the right. (There were 53 votes against it in Congress--40 of them Republican.)

Then there was the prescription drug benefit bill. True, a lot of liberals didn't like it, but that was because while it was moving in the right direction, it didn't go far enough. (The benefit will cost well over a trillion bucks, though the Bush estimate at the time was less than half that.) Meanwhile, conservatives had to be strong-armed into voting for it.

The examples Carin gives look more like Bush reaching out, even as he's got a solid lead in Congress. Obama's health care is not, to many Republicans (and some Democrats) moving things in the right direction. We're not talking about accepting half a loaf, we're talking about drinking poison. So what we need is not another Ted Kennedy, but another George Bush--a President willing to truly compromise, rather than cram things down his opponents' throats.

There is another possibility, of course. Democrats under Obama have a much bigger lead in Congress than Republicans had under Bush. They don't need a single Republican vote. If the health care bill is so wonderful, they should be rushing to pass it, happy that the foolish Republicans will be left in the dust.