For it before they were against it

Exactly. If House Democrats refuse to send the Senate bill to the president for his signature, their opponents in November will not fail to hammer them for having voted for health care reform in the first place. They'll lose that debate and still have lost the opportunity to enact the biggest piece of quality of life legislation of their political life.

Losing the Senate seat that I believe, if I've got the history right, the Kennedys brought with them from Ireland is painful. No doubt about it. And I can appreciate that many Dems are now fearing their political demise. But nothing will so dispirit Democratic voters as House Democrats walking away from health care reform now.

The fundamental pact between a political party and its supporters is that the two groups believe the same thing and pledge to work on it together. And the Democratic base feels that it has held to its side of the bargain. It elected a Democratic majority and a Democratic president. It swallowed tough compromises on the issues it cared about most. It swallowed concessions to politicians it didn't like and industry groups it loathed. But it persisted. Because these things are important. That's why those voters believe in them. That's why they're Democrats.

But the party looks ready to abandon them because Brown won a special election in Massachusetts -- even though Democrats can pass the bill after Brown is seated. What that says is crucial: Whereas the base thought it was making these hard compromises and getting up early to knock on doors because these issues are important, the party thought all that was happening because, well, it's hard to say. It was electorally convenient? People need something to do? Ted Kennedy wanted it done?

Bobo the prognosticator says that "ramming through" health care reform with a 59-41 majority in the senate would be "political suicide." In fact, the opposite is true.