With the announcement by Harry Reid that any vote on healthcare reform will be delayed until after the August recess because means that any meaningful healthcare reform is as good as dead. The reason is that Republicans and interest groups are going to tear the bill apart over the recess and make it impossible for Democrats from swing districts and states to vote for it. Polls are already beginning to show that people dont want reform. It is dead and wont pass anytime in most of our lifetimes.
The question now is, what will Democrats run on in 2010? The unemployment rate is still likely to be very high(around 10%) and Republicans will be hammering jobs, jobs, jobs. Democrats are going to have to fight back and start attacking many of the proposals Republicans will likely push if they regain Congress. One is Social Security Privitization, which nearly passed in 2005. This would have forced huge cuts in benefits for seniors and would have basically repealed the system.
Another issue that Republicans can be attacked on is the "Fair Tax". This is a 23% sales tax that will be added onto everything that we buy and would kill many poor and middle class families financially, while giving the rich a windfall of new income. If we can make the 2010 elections about the Republicans' very bad ideas, we may just be able to survive the 2010 elections, even if unemployment remains high.