Here’s the latest scorecard in the Senate’s handling of the health reform bill and its debate:

• Joseph Lieberman flip-flops on the Medicare buy-in provision.
• Obama, essentially condoning Lieberman, praising any bill that passes in advance.
• Howard Dean, once ebullient about the structure of the bill, is now discouraged and wants it killed(!)

How far we’ve come in this entire healthcare debate — the same one that had the potential to bring all lawmakers of ideological stripes together; the same one that motivated a majority of the country to put Obama into office; the same one that gave hope to millions without healthcare access; the same one that emboldened the majority party in the U.S. legislature (the Democrats) to craft spirited debate among supporters — is now the same one, reduced to a couple of talking points on either side, upon which its ultimate passage rests.

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