Ben Nelson in the Crosshairs

A Democrat representing Nebraska is always dicey. Ben Nelson is finding out just how dicey that is following his vote in favor of health care reform.

In the survey, Nelson's job approval rating was 42 percent and his disapproval rating was 48 percent. By comparison, Republican Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, who voted against the bill, had a 63 percent job-approval rating.

Nelson has been under fire since he supplied the 60th vote to win approval for President Barack Obama's principal domestic policy initiative in the Senate. He was called a “sellout” at a political rally.

If my prognastication about Scott Brown is correct, watch for Ben Nelson to head the line of Democrats who will have changed their minds about supporting health care reform. Nelson knows he's in big trouble. He also knows he's gone from fairly well liked to disliked in the span of a month and it's due entirely to his support of health care reform, and his backroom deal to get that support.

No matter what President Obama and the Democratic leadership say, any Democrat that now switches their votes and comes out against this bill will be viewed as a hero. They will keep their political lives going. Frankly, the Democrats will be better off as well if this health care package dies. The leadership will be replaced and they can reorganize around a better agenda.

If they were to pass health care reform, every single member of their party will see their approval ratings where Ben Nelson sees them.

Another Backroom Health Care Deal

Last week, union leaders met with President Obama. They were none too happy. President Obama had agreed to the Senate version of the bill. In that, he agreed to a tax on so called "Cadillac" health care plans. Those are plans usually worth at least $20,000-$25,000. They are almost always provided by the employer to the employee. Since unions are always able to negotiate good deals for their membership (all right, not always but you get the idea), their membership would be hit especially hard by such a tax. Since they came out in full force in support of President Obama, they were none too happy about this idea. It appears that there are no more problems between the President and the unions, as there was yet another back room deal struck to exempt them from such taxes.

In pushing a giant step closer to a health care reform deal, Democratic leaders are once again drawing fire from their critics for extending special treatment to an interest group in exchange for its support of the bill.

The latest deal was struck Thursday among the White House, Congress and union leaders over the proposed tax on high-value "Cadillac" health insurance plans."

Unions had objected strongly to the proposed tax on high-value insurance policies, fearing it would hurt their members, and they won several concessions from the administration. Under the deal, if it becomes law, union workers will be shielded from the 40 percent tax for five years -- until 2018. The threshold for the tax also was raised so that it will kick in for plans worth $24,000 instead of $23,000. And dental and vision coverage will not count toward that threshold.

But what about everybody else?

Everybody else is stuck paying the bill. In fact, such a deal is a blatant violation of the fourteenth amendment, which clearly states that everyone will be treated equally under the law.

These sorts of backroom deals have become a hallmark of the Obama administration, and especially so in the health care debate. We all know about the so called Cornhusker exemption given to Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Nelson is now struggling in Nebrasak. Fortunately for him, his next race isn't until 2012.

Still, anyone that signs on to this deal is showing their naked partisan leanings. The unions get out the vote for Democrats, and now it's payback time.

It should also be noted that Scott Brown has made all sorts of hay with his disdain for these sorts of backroom deals. As such, the OPTICS of this deal will do no favors for Martha Coakley.

Health Care Reform and the 24 Hour News Cycle

Ben Nelson of Nebraska was bribed for his vote. So to was Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Bernie Sanders also received special treatment for his state. Senator Lieberman received a grant for the University of Connecticut. In fact, no less than 13 Senators have asked for carve outs for their states to exempt them from parts of the health care bill.

There's many reasons why health care reform is so unpopular. At the top of the list is the fact that the bill is a monstrosity. That said, the ugly so called sausage making process of legislating this bill from one committee to another to the full vote to the backrooms has played out like a soap opera right in front of us on the 24 hour news cycle.

For days, Neil Cavuto had small screen within a screen on his show that showed the locked door. Inside that door, a small group of Representatives and the Senators met to hammer out health care reform. It was the constant visual representation of just how non transparent the process was. As Cavuto interviewed the likes of Jon Cornyn and other Republican leaders he never missed an opportunity to ask them rhetorically if they could enter the room. Cavuto would often ask

what if you had a pizza for them

to the Republican. Cavuto spent a lot of time discussing the non transparency of the process.

The twenty four hour news cycle was tailor made for health care reform. Personally, I lost interest months ago. There are plenty, however, that can't get enough of the debate. So, to them, they can't get enough of cable news and the 24 hour news cycle. The 24 hour news cycle has not analyzed, but hyper analyzed, each and every twist and turn in this debate.

I'm not sure that every legislative process is this ugly but they are all somewhat ugly. After all, horse trading isn't new. Votes have been bought before. What's new is that each and every trade is brought into our living rooms 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Each and every ugly moment is magnified for the public at large.

Cable news has spent the last few days hyperanalyzing the vote that was bribed to Senator Ben Nelson. No wonder, he's seen his popularity fall so quickly. He's not the first to trade their vote for something for their state. He's the first to face the full fury of the 24 hour news cycle when doing it.

The exhaustion I feel, and the repulsion most people feel, toward the health care bill comes from the 24 hour news cycle's hyperanalysis of it. Almost nothing could hold up under that much scrutiny. With a bill as awful as this one, it's no wonder it's lost nearly all popularity in the face of the 24 hour news cycle.