Because It Worked So Well In 1994

The stupidity continues:

In a painful conclusion for many progressives, top Democratic strategists said in interviews Thursday evening that their party must now give up on comprehensive health care reform and press for a limited bill that can be quickly passed.

"I don't think that the comprehensive health care reform that passed the House and Senate can be signed into law this year," said Tad Devine, who has advised congressional and presidential campaigns. "The sooner we recognize the reality that a super majority was necessary to achieve this, the sooner we'll be able to win back voters."

"We can all dream but the reality is that they couldn't do it when we had 60 votes and we are not going to do it with 59," said Joe Trippi, a strategist long aligned with Democrat's liberal wing. "It's not what I want. I'd love to wave a wand and get comprehensive reform. But I think that they didn't go for that, when they could have."

The consultants have to by trade reconcile themselves with what agenda can win elections nationwide. That realpolitik has brought them to a place they could have hardly imagined one year ago when Barack Obama was inaugurated.

Until this week, as Devine put it, "the White House felt they would sustain the political damage in the short term because [health care reform] would be such a remarkable achievement in the long term."

But now many Democrats believe the scale has changed. The health plan's near-term political cost outweighs the party’s long-term policy goals. To Devine and others: less is now possible, too many other causes are being pushed aside and the party's future is now also at stake.

"We have not seen enough progress to justify the sweeping power voters gave to our party in the last two elections and they are demanding it, that the progress occur, and occur now!" Devine said. "And if we act on that, I think they will give us a lot of leeway. And if we don't deal with it we will lose important House and Senate seats, and ultimately I think it's a threat to the president's reelection."

To recap, the Dems haven't gotten health care reform done.  The people are angry at them for not making progress on this.  Ergo, the smart thing to do is to give up and punt a decade or so down the road.  The voters will understand and reward the Dems for failure.

It's like 1994 never happened for these people.  What could go wrong with that strategy?