Mass. Vote Should Be Read As a Call To Start Over on a Consensus Health Care Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may not want to hear it, but the message delivered by Massachusetts voters Tuesday was intended for her.

The California Democrat insists the upset victory by Republican Scott Brown in the special Senate election has nothing to do with public dissatisfaction with the mess she and her fellow Democrats have made of health care.

She is busy plotting a strategy to get the health care bill on President Barack Obama's desk before Brown can be seated and block the conference legislation in the Senate. Doing so would be a huge miscalculation of the nation's mood.

Americans do not want health care reform that reflects a far-left ideology and is written, debated and passed solely by Democrats. Nor do they want a bill that explodes government spending, creating the need for future tax hikes. And they certainly don't want changes in the health care system that result in inferior care delivered at a higher cost.

They have been telling Congress this in polls for the past few months.

Having had plenty of time to look at what the Democratic health care bill will do, two-thirds of Americans tell pollsters it's not what they want. They said it again in Massachusetts Tuesday.

The president, Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic leadership ignore the message at their own risk. They have taken the position that they can pass an unpopular bill in a hurry, try to fix its imperfections in the budgeting process and then sell it to the public after the ink dries. That's not possible.

This bill can only be fixed by starting over with narrow, achievable, affordable goals and with both Democrats and Republicans fully engaged in the process. If the offer is made to restart a bipartisan approach to reform, Republicans must resist the temptation to sit on the sidelines in hopes Democrats continue to self-destruct. Coming up with a workable solution remains vital to the nation's economic future.

Scott Brown said that very thing in his victory speech, pledging go to Washington and work for a consensus on health care reform. The lawmakers already there should eagerly join him.

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