DEMS AT WAR, HOW DELIGHTFUL - AT 9:24 A.M. ET:  There are all kinds of reports in the mainstream media that health-care "reform" is moving rapidly ahead, and that obstacles are falling.

Not so fast.

While the objections of moderates and conservatives are being addressed, now it's the so-called "progressives" who are up in arms.  (Well, they wouldn't say "arms."  Too militaristic.  They'd say they're distressed, and will need professional attention.)  There is a confrontation brewing between moderate and leftist Dems.   Personally, I can't wait.  I'll pay for tickets:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent half of Wednesday finalizing a deal with the Blue Dogs — and the other half quelling a brewing rebellion among progressives who think conservatives have hijacked health care reform.

Liberals, Hispanics and African-American members — Pelosi’s most loyal base of support — are feeling betrayed after House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) reached an agreement with four of seven Blue Dogs on his committee who had been bottling up the bill over concerns about cost.

And...

“Waxman made a deal that is unacceptable,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), one of about 10 progressives who met repeatedly with Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday.

Nadler actually represents Ground Zero in New York, but is way out in left field.

By sundown Wednesday, the outcry from the left had become so loud that Waxman was forced to scrap a scheduled markup of the compromise measure. He rescheduled the meeting for Thursday morning and convened a mass question-and-answer session for a deeply divided Democratic Caucus — a meeting that is expected to be extremely contentious.

COMMENT:  There are indications that this dispute is becoming increasingly racial.  The Congressional Black Caucus, led by pro-Marxist Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California - the only member of Congress to vote against military action after 9/11 - is demanding a much more socialist bill.

Will the Democratic Party come apart?  Unlikely.  The factions need each other to stay in power and hold committee chairmanships.  But the "progressives" (really, the reactionaries) resent the way in which the moderate "Blue Dog" Dems have leveraged their power.  The problem for the "progressives" is that they can't pass anything on their own.  They need the moderates.  By contrast, the moderates often have Republicans as their allies. 

The actors in the new hit play, "The Age of Obama," aren't following the script.

July 30, 2009