RNC Women

With the White House's health care summit at it's halfway point, the meeting looks more like a bait and switch trick on a used car lot than a negotiation over how to make health care more accessible and affordable. 

The White House and congressional Democrats lured Republicans to the table with the promise that conservative reforms to health care would be considered.  But as the date of the summit neared, the White House made clear that the only bill up for discussion would be the proposal released this week by President Obama based on the Democratic bill passed by the Senate. 

And once the bait of an open negotiation brought Republicans to the table today, the switch became clear this afternoon with a Politico story reporting that "Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week."

President Obama and Democrats in Congress never had any interest in Republican input.  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid rejected Republican amendments and gave Republicans just hours to read thousand page bills before voting on them.  Even as the summit continues today, Democrats are working behind the scenes to ram their bill through next week. 

The White House was able to set the ground rules for the summit today and dictate what issues were allowed on the table.  But the voters have a funny way of deciding WHO gets to sit at that table in the future.  If the Democrats force a multi-trillion dollar bill down the throats of the people using a procedural maneuver, no amount of tricks will save them from losing control of Congress in 2010.