Who owns recently passed-on Senator Edward Kennedy’s voice on the current health care reform debate? Would he, when it came down to it, be in favor of passing the bill as it stands before the Senate? A well-known proponent of affordable health care, it seems that both parties are invoking Kennedy’s legacy as the fall Senate session gets ready to begin. The legacy isn’t about his position on health care but his reputation as a politician who made compromises to get things done.

It’s interesting that both sides of the aisle are invoking his point of view and the power of his legacy. In the largest sense, it shows how important the health care reform legislation is in Congress- no one is invoking his spirit of compromise on any other issue- no one is invoking his take on the climate change bill. Kennedy stood out as a proponent of health care- indeed, he called it the cause of his life.

John Kerry made some telling statements about Kennedy during an interview:

"Here's what Teddy would do. He'd say: 'I'm going to fight the fight, and if and when we get to the point that we can't get there, we'll see whether or not we can do enough to make good happen out of this. And you can't make that measurement today." [He would] "do everything in his power to get it," but "if he didn't see the ability ... to get it done, he would not throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Which is the way the Democrats need to look at Kennedy’s notion of compromise.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R) invoked Kennedy’s legacy in talking to ABC: "If (Kennedy) was here, I don't think we'd be in the mess we're in right now. There are some ways we could do this. Both sides are arguing for insurance reform. That's not the issue. The issue is how do we put these things together.”

Which essentially says nothing about the debate, other than Hatch respected Kennedy’s abilities as a debater. It’s interesting as well to see that Hatch refers to the debate as insurance reform, rather than as healthcare reform. The difference being clear: insurance reform is changing the system as it is so that it works better- while healthcare reform is overhauling the system itself by adding a public option.
This is what Obama is pushing for, and it’s certain that he has lost a strong political ally in Kennedy. Both sides have said emphatically that they will battle this issue down to the end before thinking about any kind of compromises.

This makes me think of the climate change bill- with only 100 days (less) before the Copenhagen Summit, the fact that health care reform will be such a strongly debated issue does not bode well for a well-thought out, thought-through climate change bill to head to Copenhagen with a coherent strategy. That’s scary. And the idea that the parties will be fighting over giving people health care is staggeringly disturbing.

From the middle of the aisle, it looks like there needs to be some changes in priorities here. While Kennedy was a great compromiser and politician, he was also someone who got things done- that is part of the legacy that the Senate needs to hold onto in the coming months- and years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The day after U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy's burial, leading Democratic and Republican senators on Sunday seized on his reputation for compromise to call for cooperation in the healthcare debate but showed little give in their own positions.

The Democratic-led Congress returns in September to work on a U.S. healthcare overhaul plan criticized by Republicans as too costly and as promoting government-run healthcare.

"Here's what Teddy would do. He'd say: 'I'm going to fight the fight, and if and when we get to the point that we can't get there, we'll see whether or not we can do enough to make good happen out of this. And you can't make that measurement today," Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, said on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos.

Kennedy, who called healthcare reform the cause of his life, died last week of a brain tumor.

As President Barack Obama pushes for a plan that includes a public insurance option to compete with private plans to bring down costs, Kennedy's death leaves Democrats one vote short of the 60-vote supermajority needed to overcome procedural blocks from Republicans.

Some Democrats also are resisting the public option as part of reforming the $2.5 trillion healthcare sector and expanding coverage to some 49 million uninsured, leaving it in peril.

Some of Kennedy's closest friends, Republicans and Democrats, were on the Sunday television talks shows for tributes to him but on healthcare reform agreed on little other than the void he left in the debate.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch emphasized Kennedy's reputation as a deal-maker willing to make compromises to pass needed legislation.

"If (Kennedy) was here, I don't think we'd be in the mess we're in right now," said Hatch, who said he could be willing to rejoin the debate after dropping out of discussions in July.

"There are some ways we could do this. Both sides are arguing for insurance reform. That's not the issue. The issue is how do we put these things together," Hatch said on ABC.

But the senators stressed that a compromise would come only after an all-out fight in Congress and made no suggestion that they were willing now to surrender ground.

Kerry said Kennedy would fight for the public option and "do everything in his power to get it," but "if he didn't see the ability ... to get it done, he would not throw the baby out with the bathwater."