Hey, Dems: Stop Whining About Civility and Fight Back!

The Democrats should be trying to land a few blows in the health care debate instead of meekly complaining about a lack of civility from the opposition, Thomas Frank writes in the Wall Street Journal. The right wing has made the issue into a crusade for its vision of liberty, Frank writes, and President Obama and Nancy Pelosi should tackle it as a crusade for social justice instead of painting health care reform as a "technical consumer issue."

Obama has the biggest presidential mandate since Ronald Reagan and reformers have plenty of facts that make their case for them, Frank argues, so the health debate should have been a "one-sided blowout." The reform side "has the arguments; it has the facts; it has gale-force historical winds at its back." Frank writes. "Why not give back as good as you get? Why not simply beat the other side instead of complaining tearfully that they play too rough?" (More health care reform stories.)