The can smell it. They can taste it. They, being the Capitol Hill Democrats who are attempting to jockey health care reform down the home stretch to passage. What a monumental achievement it would be, and the nation will be a better place if they succeed.
A Republican phalanx, however, stands firm in trying to block the reform legislation and deny victory to the Democrats and President Obama. Enough Democrats feel vulnerable to the Republicans' barbs that their leaders are taking extraordinary steps to give them cover.
Already, because their Senate majority is one vote short of what's needed to stop a GOP filibuster, the Democrats are resorting to an arcane "reconciliation" maneuver to make changes in the main bill without bringing the bill to another Senate vote.
But there's another strategy in the works on the House side that makes reconciliation look as straightforward as falling off a log. The idea would be to let the reform bill be "deemed" to have passed - without members actually having to vote for it.
OK, it might work, in terms of pushing the legislation across the finish line.
But the question has to be - would this maneuver really fool anyone? Of course not. A vote to proceed with the "deem and pass" rule would simply translate into a vote for health care reform. Whatever slings and arrows were to be aimed at a House member for supporting reform directly would just as surely be aimed at the person for supporting reform indirectly. The upshot would be the same.
This could become an instance of Democratic leaders being too clever for their own good. They'd open themselves to further criticism for using a dubious procedure, one that might well face a legal challenge. Better to call upon their skittish colleagues to stand and do the right thing at a critical moment in the nation's history.
