Healthcare summit: the great divide

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The healthcare summit has ended — more than seven hours after it began.

By Washington standards, this was a fairly rare spectacle: a frank, passionate discussion about policy spliced with a mega-dose of politics. Admittedly, there were speeches. There was grandstanding. Most of the time, the participants seemed to be talking past each other, not with each other.

And most important, there was nothing resembling a consensus or a deal. But it served as a chance for Democrats and Republicans to make not only their plans — but their basic philosophies — known to the American public.

It’s likely that many viewers shared Sen. Michael Enzi’s (R-Wyo.) lament that it would have been more effective had it occurred last summer, when the healthcare debate began in earnest. Now, it may be too late for both sides.

Democrats appear committed to moving forward with their plan without any Republican support — something that will likely involve the bet-the-company gambit of reconciliation. “This will take courage to do,” vowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) at the close of the session, “and we will get it done.”

For their part, Republicans seem content to let Democrats go ahead and then reap the whirlwind in November. So, using the parlance of the moment, did this change the game?

Likely not in the slightest.

Was it ever intended to?

It’s debatable.

The lines of division between the parties on the issue have never been sharper. The president said he hoped that after the summit ended, both sides wouldn’t retreat to “their respective corners.” But they were there at the start of the day, and they finished there.

Despite talk of common ground, the choices presented between the two sides were stark. For Democrats, they showed that they were willing to back their plan to the hilt, making the case that a healthcare crisis exists in this country and that this legislation is a vehicle for abating it.

They spoke about ordinary people, confronted with horrific medical costs. No doubt thousands of viewers could relate.

For Republicans, they took advantage of an opportunity to show that their opposition to the House and Senate bills was grounded in principle rather than mere political obstructionism. And while their ideas may not have matched the comprehensive sweep of the Democratic proposals, they did show deep engagement on the issue.

President Obama may have taken the largest risk of all, gambling that a recession-battered public, increasingly weary of the healthcare debate, will appreciate his attempt to bridge a partisan divide. “This has been hard work,” Obama said at the end of the day. “I don’t know frankly whether we can close that gap.”

In the end, it’s possible that the needle on the healthcare scale didn’t budge, not with members of Congress and not with the general public. But from this point onward, apportioning the blame and the credit in what happens in the coming weeks just became easier.

-- James Oliphant