A Modest Proposal

Democrats and Republicans seem rightly to agree that the top priority for health care reform is cost reduction. They disagree primarily over universal coverage. The nature and extent of the latter depend largely on the magnitude of the former. So, Mr. President, why not accept Republican incrementalism for now and force them to put up or shut up by concentrating, first, exclusively on cost containment--if successful, you become a hero, able to advocate more convincingly for the rest of your agenda; if unsuccessful, the rest of your agenda is moot, as it should be.