Self-Fufilling Prophecy

Politico is laying the groundwork for yet another delay on Obamacare, this one well into 2010.

Democrats have blown so many deadlines for getting health reform done this year that insiders are increasingly skeptical they can finish by year’s end — and some even suggest the effort might slip to a new deadline, before the State of the Union address.

The discussions are an acknowledgment that with only two months left in the year, Democrats are still a long way from sending a bill to the president’s desk. The House could take up reform on the floor as early as this week, with a good shot at passing something by Veterans Day.

But in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid is still wrangling with his moderate members to corral 60 votes just to get the debate started. And on Monday, Reid sent a letter to Republicans acknowledging that he is waiting on the Congressional Budget Office’s cost estimates and analysis to finish drafting a bill. Democrats signaled that those estimates would not be ready this week, casting further doubt on their ability to finish reform this year.

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad said he spoke with CBO Director Doug Elmendorf last week and that it sounded like “it would be quite a while” before the estimates were ready. The news makes a Christmas completion “a challenge,” Conrad said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) also asked Elmendorf when the estimates would be ready. So how long is a while?

“I asked Mr. Elmendorf that question, and I get the same answer: We just don’t know,” Baucus said.

That perception is shared on K Street.“It doesn’t sound to me that they’re ready to go. They still have moderates hanging out there,” said a former Republican Senate leadership aide turned lobbyist.

So, Kent Conrad and some K Street Republican-types are thinking...next year. Maybe. If things get passed, they can be reconciled kinda before February-ish. Sorta. Hey, maybe we should wait a bit more and get it right...

Of course, excessive delays are exactly what some in Washington want. They know that once this bill starts becoming an attack option in primaries this Spring, this bill's done for and it will never get passed. They need to just delay it a little bit longer, and then health care reform is done for for another 16 years or so.

Which is the point of articles like this. Note how it's the Democrats who missed deadlines according to the article but the explanation why isn't there: Republicans like Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi who sandbagged the measure in the Senate.

Village Politico at its finest.