What Happens Next?

If by some miracle the House and Senate can reach a compromise on universal access to health care, what should be next?

The last Democratic administration chose to focus on "welfare" reform as a signature issue - in my mind akin to Nixon going to China - and establish Bill Clinton's bona fides as a moderate. He lost some of his closest friends during that time, chief among them Marian Wright Edelman, the leader of the Children's Defense Fund, an organization that included Hillary Clinton as a board member for many years. That organization, among others, was angry that Clinton's effort demonized disenfranchised women and risked throwing more children into worse poverty than they already experienced. Some consider that legislation a real success because it reduced the number of people receiving benefits and ended up with many former welfare recipients in jobs. The real problem, though, is that the effort did not translate into better relationships with conservatives or other legislative achievements that made real differences in our lives. It's not a slam at Bill Clinton. His administration shares the blame with Congress.


President Obama has similar choices to make. He can tack to the right a bit and perhaps find some common ground on many economic and social issues. He could take a risk - if incumbent Democratic members of Congress will go along with him - to be bolder on public policy questions. I'm not sure I want to go through another off year election where Republicans take back the House or the Senate but if you had a choice, which agenda would you choose?