Which Side Are You On?...Day 34

I just had the good fortune today, of attending a meeting with Baron Hill. It was a small gathering at a constituent's home in Jeffersonville. The subject was health care reform.

Rep. Hill took questions from the small group for almost an hour and a half. The audience of about 15-20 friendly supporters was probably seen as a welcome respite from the contentious gatherings which have characterized many of the meetings on this subject held throughout the August recess.

While Rep. Hill spoke openly about a broad range of questions on the topic, one of his comments was particularly important for me. I have criticized Rep. Hill for what I perceived to be lukewarm support for health care reform. He early on walked away from the single payer plan, which I prefer, and which I still believe is the superior plan.

But now it appears, we have the Public Option as the last best hope for substantive reform. So, it was encouraging when Rep. Hill recounted a conversation with one of his wobbly colleagues and fellow Blue Dogs, in which he told the wobbly one to "get a spine", and support the Public Option. He went on to say that the time for delaying reform is over, and now it is time to act. He assessed the President's chances of achieving successful reform as good, if he "regains a hold on the issue" and controls the terms of the debate. But he cautioned, if the President fails to do so within about a week of his address, next Wednesday, to a joint session of Congress, reform might well be doomed. Any lingering doubts about Rep. Hill's sincere commitment to reform have, for me, vanished.

Rep. Hill, further bemoaned the acrid atmosphere seen in the Town Howl meetings. The lack of civility displayed in these gatherings is a serious failing for the nation, he said. And most disturbingly, he attributed the outrageous,venomous hate speech, loosed at some of the more extreme Town Howls, to raw, stupid, racism. The good of the country takes a back seat to intolerance and racism as "opposition" to health care reform becomes the convenient cudgel with which to deliver blows of racism and hatred against a black man in the White House.

Finally, and encouragingly, Rep. Hill said he believes that in "just the last couple of days, the big beast of public opinion has begun to turn in the direction of reform". It's his gut feeling, but I feel it too.