In his quest for bipartisan support for the health care reform bill, President Obama reportedly is relying heavily on one particular Republican senator to cross party lines and act as a catalyst for change.
A New York Times article identifies that person as Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who appears to be in regular contact with the president. As she told the NYT during an interview, "He’s always eliciting my views, wondering...what my concerns are.”
Republicans have repeatedly denied Obama's assertion that insuring the uninsured won't cost additional funding because the bulk will be covered by removing wasteful spending from the system.
Snowe goes against her party on this point and says that the plan proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus meets Obama's budget neutral goal. She calls Obama's views on health care "realistic" and sees him as more moderate than liberal.
Why is Snowe's good opinion of the president so important? If she chooses to side with the 59 Democrats, hers will be the crucial 60th vote in the Senate that can ward off a Republican filibuster.
Snowe is able to contemplate this break from the GOP because she believes the party has drifted. According to the NYT, as Snowe sees it:
[S]he has maintained traditional Republican principles over 30 years in Washington, while her party has moved past them to the right.
“I haven’t changed as a Republican,” she said. “I think more that my party has changed.”...
In the interview, she made no commitment on the health care overhaul. Yet she offered a rationale for joining Democrats this year, observing that “the time has come” to act.
“I’d like to have more Republicans on board,” she said. Does she have to have them?
“Well, no — I’m going to support the right policy,” she concluded. “People really want to get something done.”
Photo of Senator Olympia Snowe
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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