Indispensable People

Yes, I know, the graveyards are filled with them etc., etc. 

But I am pretty convinced that the absence or incapacity of certain people at key moments can change history.

I worry that, with respect to health care reform, Ted Kennedy's illness could be one of those instances, which I find heartbreaking given his virtually lifelong devotion to the issue.   There is no doubt in my mind that a healthy Kennedy would be the driving force behind health care in the Senate.  And given his historical track record in other areas, I believe he would make this happen.  However, with him on the sidelines, our fate falls largely into the hands of the dubious Max Baucus, a man whose lack of political courage is legendary.  The Finance Committee, chaired by Baucus, has eclipsed the HELP Committee, which Kennedy chairs, in terms of shaping the legislative agenda.  It is like having a charge led by a capybara rather than a lion.    [Update - the HELP Committee today approved a health care reform bill by party line vote after approving 160 Republican sponsored amendments to the bill.  This is a classic example of being suckered -- why approve any of their amendments if you are not going to get any of their votes?  And this is the committee that I thought had more backbone.  Oy!  Not sure of the substance of the amendments, but I have a hard time believing that they enhanced the quality of the bill.] 

The Finance Committee has a 13-10 Democratic to Republican advantage -- and one of those Republicans is Olympia Snowe.  If Baucus had even a microscopic set of balls and brains (and a conscience of similar size) getting a decent plan home should be child's play.  Obama should lean on him 24/7 if necessary to get a bill through that is comparable to the House version.   If nothing else, the Dems owe this to Ted Kennedy.       

Comments

[Corvus9]

Perhaps this is where the House comes in. They have their bill, and it sounds pretty good. Hopefully whatever bill comes out of the Senate can be properly reformed by the reconciliation process. Yeah, the ultimate result will not be as good as what would come out of a Kennedy dominated process, but just with him being out of it, maybe the pressure needs to come from outside the Senate, and not from the White House. (The White House needs to keep on rosy terms with a whole bunch of Senators who will be key to later bills, so it's really hard for them to do the shoving. Pelosi and Waxman, however, don't really have to give two shits about the delicate flowers in the House of Lords. They pass legislation, too.)

[Stephen]

This isn't nice to say, but if Senator Kennedy either dies or gets extremely near death during this process, Senators who otherwise would value most their corporate masters might find themselves motivated by sympathy for a Senate colleague.

[Corvus9]

Sir Charles, Booman watched the mark-up, and while he doesn't go into specifics, he says the Republican Amendments that did get through actually do help the bill, although there was a lot of bad amendments offered up as well. So maybe they aren't being suckered; maybe the Senate is just a weirder place than we thought.

[big bad wolf]

OT, but only sort of since BCN was indispensable back in the day: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/15/cbs_pulls_plug_on_legendary_wbcn/

death was a long-time coming, but inevitable (and deserved) once the station traded charles laquidara for howard stern.

[Sir Charles]

Corvus,

Sincere thanks for pointing that out. And nice work by Booman -- far superior to my Goldbergian suppositions. (In my defense, my wife has made me aware of a great number of the amendments offered by Coburn -- the non-constructive ones shall we say -- so I view all amendments originating from that source with suspicion.)

I appreciate his disussion of Dodd too -- Dodd is I think very loyal to Kennedy. Unfortunately, he's not Kennedy and is in a weakened state politically. Harkin is also a really good duy, but not nearly as strong a leader as Kennedy either.

It will be interesting to watch.

[Corvus9]

Sir Charles,

Dodd probably gains some more political power in this instance from the degree to which he is seen as acting as Kennedy's voice in this matter. If what Dodd says is assumed to be what Kennedy wants, than it carries more weight than if people assumed that was just what Dodd wanted. Kennedy is really, really well-respected, so this might actually be a situations where the chumminess of the Senate actually helps us.

[Sir Charles]

bbw,

The destruction of music on the radio by corporate tools over the last ten to fifteen years has been pretty remarkable. I will always have a special fondness for BCN -- at the age of 16 or 17 it was really a transformative force in my life. I remember too the DJs there going out on strike against the corporate tools in the late 70s, something that will never happen again.

DC had a fabulous local station too - WHFS -- which, when I moved down here for law school and was living alone, was like a best friend. I would listen to it for multiple hours per day and it was remarkably eclectic, with incredibly knowledgable DJs able to program their own shows.

The irony, of course, is that these kind of local stations could make a modest profit while the Clear Channels of the world have brought us a model of irrelevance and ultimate financial ruin.

[has_te]

the dubious Max Baucus, a man whose lack of political courage is legendary. The Finance Committee.. If Baucus had even a microscopic set of balls and brains (and a conscience of similar size) getting a decent plan ..."

We in the purportedly-purpling? State of Montana see him pretty much a 'Blue Dog'..of the wormiest pro-business (really wealthy old-line Montana ranching family) sort.
[But hell,the 'Blue Dogs', a euphemism, at best.. all DINOs!.
i.e. existentially & forever untrustworthy]

[big bad wolf]

that's right! the strike! i remember that, and duane glasscock. what a different radio world it was, a better one too so we needn't pretend this is a get-off-my lawn moment. there is still plenty of great music, but good luck finding it on the airwaves. free downloads, becuase of the forethought they require, just cannot compare with flipping the dial and hearing the greatest song in the world (that week) blare.

oh well, health care will just have to suffice :)

[Sir Charles]

bbw,

I've gone with the satellite radio because of my frequent trips of 2 to 4 hours. Sometimes a man can only take so much NPR or Christian radio (which I love to listen too from time to time).

However, satellite radio is not a substitute for old local radio stations, where regional quirks could prevail and new acts could catch a break -- BCN for instance was more Brit and Boston oriented, and punkier and edgier than HFS, which was a little more rootsy and American. Both stations championed acts that you couldn't hear anywhere else. And no, this really isn't a get off my lawn moment -- it was just a very different time, when radio stations could be owed by local entrepeneurs with very modest profit expectations. A lot of these guys were as much fans as they were businessmen.

[big bad wolf]

very true. i think nearly everything i owned till 1980 came from britain or boston.

i went with satellite because it came with the new GM last year. it's immediate benefit was to get NPR off; it's all well and good to be informed, but really, who talks like those folks :)

satellite has grown on me, but the formatting means that, even when one is hearing great stuff, surprises are not likely---the segues are going to be of the same type of (often wonderful) music. the partial exception, i've found, is little steven's underground garage, where 59 may follow 09 and 78 may follow 94.

[Sir Charles]

bbw,

You're absoutely right -- satellite rarely provides stylistic surprises given its narrowcast tendencies. Little Steven's Underground Garage is an eclectic exception -- one of the things I love about it is when I can't figure out whether a song is from 1965 or 2005, which happens more often than you'd think.

I also really like the Canadian Broadcasting station -- there's a ton of good music in Canada and it really has great range.

[big bad wolf]

more than once, when i've gone on itunes to buy a song (chris andersen should be free, musicians should be paid) on underground garage, i've been off by more than two decades.

i shall check out the cbc. i amdit a child-like pleasure in hearing celtic games on the original boston celtic on satellite

[Sir Charles]

bbw,

I'm of the demo that used to turn the sound down on the TV and listen to Johnny Most do the radio play by play. The greatest "homer" to ever get behind a mic.

[big bad wolf]

from before it should read to buy a song i've heard on underground garage.

amen. there was no one like johnny. when dave bing won the mayoral special election in detroit all i could say was "bing bang. we only had bing for a little bit at the end (though it was hard not to admire him even with the pistons), but johnny made that phrase enduring. i often think of him up there at the end, no legs, croaking it out. beautiful. absurd, but beautiful.

[Sir Charles]

This has become the official old guy from Boston dialogue thread. I hadn't thought of Dave Bing in a dog's age -- guy was so good. Great range. I'm pretty sure I saw him play in the Garden while still with the Pistons.

[big bad wolf]

very true. i'm sure people all over the world are inspired :)

[low-tech cyclist]

DC had a fabulous local station too - WHFS -- which, when I moved down here for law school and was living alone, was like a best friend. I would listen to it for multiple hours per day and it was remarkably eclectic, with incredibly knowledgable DJs able to program their own shows.

Its spiritual successor, WRNR in Annapolis, fortunately lives on. I listen to it daily. 103.1 on the FM dial.

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

Unfortunately, I can't generally pick it up in DC.