The passing of the Obama health care plan is monumental history in the making. This is the closest the United States has ever come to universal health coverage for all Americans as a right of citizenship. It’s even closer than the Democratic Congress and Bill Clinton in 1994. The House voted 220-215 in favor of the Obama health care plan late Saturday night.

If any of you have taken 5th grade history, you know that the bill now has to go through the Senate and must be approved by a majority of senators in order to be sent to the White House to be signed by the president.

Never before in our nation’s history has a health insurance overhaul been this close to becoming a law. Even President Obama said that this vote has ‘brought us closer than we have ever been’ to extending coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

The time is now, for health care reform. Ed Rendell, the current governor of Pennsylvania and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said it perfectly: ‘There’s no perfect bill out there, but this bill is what we need.’

I believe that within the year Congress will pass health care legislation that will become law with the president’s signature. This will not only be the great legacy of the Obama administration, but also of the Democratic Party for years to come.

The problem comes in 2010 and 2012. If the Obama administration and Congress have not lowered unemployment figures by next summer or fall, they will face near certain losses to the Republicans in these election years. This is because the Republicans will stake their reputation in these election years as remaining in opposition to the Democrats. They will claim that the Democrats have outspent the nation without helping the economy.

Basically, if the Democrats fail, Republicans will fill the void.

This is a brilliant strategy, except for one thing. The Democrats are actually succeeding in their domestic agenda.

Republicans may disagree with this point. Lindsay Graham, a leading Republican in the Senate, said, ‘The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate,’ on this Sunday’s ‘Face the Nation.’

I believe we should end this partisan bickering in Congress. This should not be about which party has control; it should be about solving the crisis we have with American health care.

Politicians should take a lesson from Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, the lone Republican to vote for the health care bill. In his reasoning to break party lines, Cao said, ‘I have always said that I would put aside partisan wrangling to do the business of the people. My vote tonight was based on my priority of doing what is best for my constituents,’ according to a press release issued shortly after his vote.

Cao represents a district in southern Louisiana with one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, including many whom have no health insurance. His victory in the House race in 2008 was viewed as a tremendous upset. Even House minority leader John Boehner wrote a memo titled ‘The Future is Cao,’ after Cao’s election. Boehner stated that, ‘the Cao victory is a symbol of what can be achieved when we think big and present a positive alternative.’ This is what Republicans need now.

Cao’s vote represents what Congress should be about, answering the call of history and the call of your constituents who put you in that office.

Andrew Swab is a sophomore magazine and international relations major. His columns appear weekly. He can be reached at ajswab@syr.edu.

Published on November 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm