Settle down and take a deep breath

Since the beginning of the Obama adminstration, Democrats have been using the term ‘reset’ a lot. It has a lot of merit, the desire to halt a certain trajectory and recover some bearings.

Republicans are hearing from constituents that they want to restart the process of reforming health care in America. This instant review by Reuters is apparently undergoing continual change, but right after the president’s speech before Congress, it carried some of those statements. Here’s one that remains (as of this writing):

(Rep. Charles Boustany:) “It’s clear the American people want health care reform, but they want their elected leaders to get it right. Most Americans wanted to hear the President tell Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi, Majority Leader (Harry) Reid and the rest of Congress that it’s time to start over on a common-sense, bipartisan plan focused on lowering the cost of health care while improving quality. That’s what I heard over the past several months in talking to thousands of my constituents.”

Reuters dropped some original reporting on another response from Republican leadership about that call to restart the process, this time with bi-partisanship. But it has a common sense response from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“The President spent a lot of time tonight talking about what will happen if Congress does nothing about healthcare even though there’s already a strong bipartisan agreement on the need for reform. The false choice between a massive government takeover, or no reform at all, is one that has been soundly rejected across the country.”

Really, it’s not an either-or ultimatum.

The editors of the National Review had this response after the speech.

President Obama said that “the time for bickering is over” and that he will not “waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it.” You would not guess it from his speech, but it is possible sincerely to believe that it is better policy to scrap this plan and start over.

After all, what’s the hurry, if this legislation doesn’t go into effect until 2013? The president has promised to listen to voices who do not agree with him on key legislation, or key aspects of it. Here are some.