Another Week, Another Version of Obamacare...

Remember last week? Back when Barack Obama had a new gee-whiz version of Obamacare released for his much anticipated triumph at the health care summit? Wasn't that supposed to be the be-all and end-all of Obamacare versions?

Evidently not.

Because it's now a new week and we're going to get yet another version of Obamacare by Wednesday. I don't know about you, but I'm relieved. After 13 months of this shit, I don't know if I could make it 7 days without the sight and sound of Barack Obama finding a new way to flog a dead horse to sustain me:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday President Obama will soon propose a health care bill that will be "much smaller" than the House bill but "big enough" to put the country on a "path" toward health care reform.

And it now seems Nan's Kamikaze Phase was more of a mood than a strategy:

"In a matter of days, we will have a proposal," Pelosi said, pointing to Obama's forthcoming bill. "It will be a much smaller proposal than we had in the House bill, because that's where we can gain consensus. But it will be big enough to put us on a path of affordable, quality health care for all Americans that holds insurance companies accountable."

Whatever.

So now we have the following: 

• Obamacare: The Summit Version,
• Obamacare: The Senate Version,
• Obamacare: The House Version, 
• Obamacare: The Senate Public Option Version (although Obama clearly doesn't want a public option),
• and on Wednesday we'll have Obamacare: The Small Version.

Wonderful. Kind of has a General Motors feel to it, doesn't it? The answer to the problem of having four versions of an expensive, crappy full-sized car that nobody wants is to introduce the less expensive, crappy Chevy Chevette that nobody wants to win over the import buyers. How can that not work?

Note: About the only thing of interest in all this was how fast the whole "we've got the votes for reconciliation" fiction died. You should know you're in trouble when people like Josh Marshall and Steve Benen can not longer keep a straight face when you start chest-thumping about using reconciliation, but I'm still surprised the Democrats caught on so quickly.

Comments

[Simon]

Only an intellectual who had studied this complex issue closely could come up with a number of different plans. Only a halfwit would be stupid enough to think that floating alternatives was anything other than political suicide.

In politics, as in life, you get one plan only which you can change in a limited way if circumstances require. To do anything else frightens the hell out of the people who are following you.

[Allen]

It seems to me that Obama is trying to figure out exactly who his dumbest supporters are. He flogs a "new" bad idea every week, which his followers then claim is the new awesome. I guess the last fan standing gets the appelation.

Lets see we've had:
1. The voters don't understand it.
2. The country is ungovernable.
3. Obama, like Carter, is just too smart for the job.

It's kind of sad, but funny, when people refuse to give up their illusions. My bet is that they will never admit they bought someone who had absolutely no track record of leadership for one very good reason. He's not capable of it.

[mojo]

Next- Obamacare: The Musical

[richard mcenroe]

C'mon,Dennis,Obamacare is like Windows. You NEED different versions so it can perform equally badly on ALL platforms....

[gesundheit]

What Sicko hath wrought- President Obama and the Democratic attempt to euthanize a health care system and economy suffering from arthritis and the flu.