Kerry, in an effort to redeem himself from the consequences of a lousy campaign, has called for health care for every child. This is a laudable goal, but it leads to the question: why not healthcare for everyone? It’s not like his proposal is going to pass, so why advocate a partial measure? The advantage of being a minority party is that you don’t have to be responsible; why not fight for universal healthcare, cost be damned?

This lame proposal is symptomatic of the Democrats as a whole: a partial, timid measure that isn’t good policy or politics. What exactly is Kerry afraid of? I’m starting to think that maybe the Democratic establishment is, well, stupid. The strategy seems obvious: put the Republicans on the defensive by saying, “Medicare has provided universal healthcare to Americans 65 and over, now it’s time to expand universal healthcare to all Americans.” Will they call this socialism? Of course, but they’ll call anything that Democrats propose socialism.

Why Lord, is my party so lame?