February 04, 2010 09:45 PM UTC

Redeeming Jared Polis?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Independent reports:

Colorado Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis’s bold move to pass health reform legislation that would include a public health insurance option has gained significant support in the week since he first began circulating among lawmakers and on the web a letter that he co-authored with Maine Democrat Chellie Pingree outlining the idea. Polis sent the letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today with the signatures of 120 Representatives attached.

The plan aims to guard against any watered-down legislation coming from the Senate, where Democrats seem poised to concede to Republican demands in the wake of the GOP Scott Brown Senate victory in Massachusetts.

Polis is urging Democratic Senators to revisit the Senate version of the legislation, not to thin its provisions, but to add a public option and then to pass the bill through the process known as reconciliation.

The Independent reports that most of the Colorado congressional delegation hasn’t seen this letter from Rep. Polis urging a “public option” health care plan to be passed via reconciliation–which would circumvent the 60-vote requirement in the Senate, but also likely restart the partisan flamethrowing in Washington with apocalyptic vigor. It’s not considered likely to succeed, even by most diehard supporters of the so-called “public option,” and there are concerns that this could hamper any effort to pass a comprehensive bill.

Though Polis has the support in this effort of several national progressive groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, we’re inevitably drawn back to the debate last autumn, in which Polis’ major contribution was to publicly disparage the House reform bill as “too tough” on business, becoming a poster child for “divided Democrats.” It was our contention then, and remains so today, that Polis very foolishly handed talking points to the opponents of health care reform–that Polis, whatever he intended, was a net detraction from efforts to get health reform legislation passed. And, well, it hasn’t passed, has it?

There does seem to be a significant disconnect between the public’s impression of Rep. Polis’ support for health care reform and the facts as they actually played out, but we suppose this Hail Mary late effort will be the last thing most CD-2 voters will remember. After everything that’s happened in the politically disastrous agonizing over health care reform this past year, liberals have much higher profile characters to vilify than Jared Polis.

But he is no hero, either…