Politicians from both sides met today at Blair House to discuss healthcare reform on live television in an effort to put all the facts out in the open in a neutral environment. The goal of the summit was really to get some sort of progress going on healthcare reform. If you haven't been following the healthcare debate, you haven't missed much. If you checked up on healthcare reform news a few times this past year, chances are you would have heard different stories about how the battle was going. In fact, for a while it seemed that every other day the tide would turn and victory would be within reach for one side or another. It became apparent after a few weeks however, that very little had happened at all. Whether it was the news media trying to spice up a stagnant situation or politicians waffling to get attention doesn't really matter. It was clear that the state of politics in this country had reached an equilibrium quagmire. Sort of like a canoe with two people rowing in opposite directions, which would be hilarious if only the boat weren't sinking along with all of our money. What is a little bit funny though is how one side appear to have the upper hand but seems endlessly able to get nothing done with that advantage. This is where today's summit is supposed to be important.

The lead up to this summit has been fraught with suspicion and mudslinging. Democrats have complained of misinformation getting in the way of progress, and hope to use the summit to clear the air. Republicans have been vocally suspicious of the summit, often characterizing it as a setup to discredit them by airing an unfair debate on a biased playing field. Will the Democrats be successful in getting rid of misconceptions? Will the Republicans have their say? Will anything get done? My money's on tomorrow being just like today. The Blair House summit is a great idea, or at least it would be if politicians would approach it sincerely with the single-minded purpose of settling their differences and getting something done, but a summit with this much exposure has the downside of putting more at stake in terms of the careers of those involved. If a politician were to listen to the other side with an open mind and perhaps end up being persuaded, as any reasonable and rational human being might, admitting so would amount to political suicide on the part of the individual and the party. No one is ever going to come out and say "hey, you know what? I guess we were wrong about this, let's go with your plan." If the Democrats back down, they'll look weak and ineffectual and if that happens, then as Dick Cheney said, "Obama is a one term president." If some renegade republicans change their stances and help get reform done, then as Bill Kristol said back in 1993, we'd have a democrat congress for a long time. In the end, there's too much at stake politically on both sides for any of them to really consider the welfare of the country when they make their their case at the summit or even when they cast their vote if this bill ever comes to cloture. In all likelihood the summit will serve more as a piece of theater, a platform for politicians to sell the public, not on healthcare reform, but on paying them for another term.