Third Way Dispatch

Two weeks after hitting theaters, Michael Moore’s new movie on the American health care system, Sicko, stands among the country’s top 10 box office releases (way behind the Transformers but ahead of Shrek III). Not bad for a summer flick with no explosions or Bruce Willis.

For advocates of major health care reform, this uptick in public interest is yet more evidence that times are ripe for a new discussion about the way we do health care in this country.

After Iraq, health care is once again the number one topic of concern for potential voters. Polls show growing public discontent with the current system and a seeming eagerness for change. A March 2007 CBS/New York Times poll, for example, found 59% of Americans to be “very dissatisfied” with health care costs in general, and 52% to be “very concerned” about future costs. Numerous other polls show strong majorities in favor of more government involvement in regulating health care costs.

Optimists for major reform may say the only big question left is this: Canada or Britain?

At backwardsbush.com the ticker reads 571 days, 8 hours, 52 minutes, and 22.6 seconds until the end of the Bush presidency. It’s time to resynchronize our watches to 0 – the Bush presidency ended today at 11:35 am when the Kennedy-Kyl Immigration Bill died. The President’s arm twisting brought over 12 Republicans. That’s 12 out of 49. That’s 24.5% of the caucus. That’s a .245 batting average. That’s Bobby Abreu-ville.

And that’s the good news. If this bill were voted on in the House, Bush would be batting below the Mendoza line.

Mitch McConnell gets it. So does Trent Lott. Lindsey Graham understands. And so does Mel Martinez. These four Republican senators recognize the point that the Wall Street Journal makes persuasively in today’s lead editorial – that Republicans have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change their brand from one of inattentiveness to minorities to one of openness. The opportunity comes from the bipartisan, comprehensive immigration bill.

Earlier this year, we released a paper called The New Rules Economy, in which we argued that middle class anxiety is rooted in the uncertainty of change.

And by change, we really mean the broad structural changes that our occurring in our economy due to advances in technology and accelerating globalization. In our narrative, we see the middle class as being forced to figure out, cope, and prosper on their own amidst these vast changes. Conservatives tell the middle class not to worry and that they should put their faith in the markets to sort out winners and losers. Many progressives tell them the opposite – to worry. They warn them of the dire consequences of change and promise to turn back the clock or cushion the blow.

Today, we released a strategy memo, A New Middle Class Compact, that offers a series of ideas that address change and help average people succeed. This memo, based on our New Rules narrative, is about steering change and not being steered by it. It is about making globalization work for America and Americans.

The ideas in this compact are intentionally medium-sized, because we sought to create an agenda that progressives could unite behind in Congress and realistically have a chance to move forward in the near term. We also wanted the ideas to be illustrative of the narrative and framework that we propose. We hope you’ll take a look.

No gun bill is perfect and that certainly is the case with H.R. 2640, the McCarthy-Dingell-Boucher compromise. Their bill, to improve the background check system (called NICS) used to approve or deny gun buyers, is the product of a deal struck with the NRA. Trust me when I say that the NRA has never, ever made any piece of legislation better. But the fact is that almost nothing having to do with guns can get through Congress without their approval these days.

Four years ago, Congressman Tom Tiahrt (R-Neanderthal) ambled into an appropriations committee markup with a piece of paper containing legislative language. Tiahrt rose and sought the recognition of the chairman: “I have an amendment at the desk,” the fifth term congressman said. That was to be one of only two intelligible sentences that he would say on that day in that committee.