Bruno Pelosi and Harry the Horrible

Twisting the arms of several members of each house of Congress has led to very public “backroom deals” that have bordered on flat-out bribes for legislators on behalf of their states. These occurrences have been coupled with bad press reports (e.g., polls indicating that Americans want to scale back the deal or start over), bad quotes (e.g., Pelosi’s quote saying that the bill must be passed before people can see what’s actually in it), and bad karma (e.g., having the late Ted Kennedy’s seat filled by a filibuster-breaking Republican, thus forcing the Democrats to consider the highly-unpopular option of reconciliation) to forge a Democratic image of bullying Congress—and huge sections of America—for their version of health care reform, not governing with a steady, populist hand on the pulse of the people. When attempting to contrast their party with the manufactured image of the GOP as the party of heavy-handed ideologues, nothing could be worse for the Democrats, even if they win in March before November’s de facto referendum.

Pelosi (and, to a lesser extent, Reid) may be able to coordinate off-the-ropes maneuvers to re-take control of the health care debate in time to secure enough support this week. However, as many have noted, if they had the support at this time, they would have called for a vote on the floor. If the Democrats continue down this path against the voiced concerns of a majority of Americans, perhaps both their health care plan—and their time in leadership on Capitol Hill—may be down on the mat despite their best efforts to pin down the votes.

Lenny McAllister is a syndicated political commentator, podcast co-host, and the author of the book, “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative,)” purchased online at www.tinyurl.com/lennysdiary and www.amazon.com. He will be featured on XM Radio’s “The New School” this Saturday at 1 PM EST on POTUS and the Frederick Douglass Foundation Leadership Summit in Washington, DC starting March 18. Follow him at www.twitter.com/lennyhhr and on Facebook at www.tinyurl.com/lennyfacebook .