#HCR

11 November 2009

On Sunday afternoon, I ignored the lure of the great outdoors and sat in front of my computer, watching C-Span. The House was about to vote on Health Care reform. It was 11pm on a Saturday night, DC time. The four hours allotted to debate hadlapsed, and it was time to finally take the vote.

Watching online, it was amazing to see the galleries and floor packed. Staffers and the public have filled the chamber, all to see this historic piece of legislation pass.

And it is an historic piece of legislation. Barack Obama and the Democratic congress have done what no president since Johnson has been able to do: get a health care bill through the House of Representatives.

So many presidents have tried. Johnson was the last to succeed, but since, it's been failure after failure. Ford, Nixon, Carter, Clinton- all tried, all failed. Certainly, the Bush administration passed Medicare Part D (which deserves countless posts on its own), but comprehensive health care reform hasn't happened in the last 40 years.

It was remarkably fun to follow the action live: watching the debate, and reading the responses people around the United States, and around the world, were having to the occasion. Twitter went crazy, with comments from people on both sides of the aisle. #HCR, the official health care reform hash tag, was one of the most popular topics of the day.

In the cacophony of voices discussing the bill, some stood out. Pundits who knew the legislation inside and out were able to offer expert commentary, explaining developments as the debate progressed. Personally, reading the insights of noted health care reform bloggers like Jon Cohn of The New Republic and Ezra Klein of the Washington Post was invaluable. They made the experience both more understandable, and more enjoyable.

Plus some of the snarky comments were just plain funny.

It was a communal experience. Across the globe, we were able to witness the debate, then the vote, and participate in a conversation about it. We could share our thoughts, excitement, outrage, concerns. When the final vote was cast, some of the Americans I follow on Twitter spoke of toasting with their drinks, late on a Saturday night. I toasted with my early-afternoon coffee.

It was an historic day, not merely because this was the first major health care reform to pass in 40 years, but also because we could experience it in new, digital ways.

Tags: Hcr, Health Care, New Media, Twitter