Compromises always taste bad

So it has always been with health reform. As the bill moves closer to final passage it becomes less popular.

The compromise now gaining traction is to replace the public option with an expansion of Medicare. Liberals are wary, and the 10 Senators tasked with finding common ground may still fail.

Another idea making the rounds is that the House will vote through whatever the Senate passes, eliminating the need for a conference and giving the President a new law under his Christmas tree.

Liberals don't like this either, but the fact is there aren't 60 liberals in the Senate, nor will there be any time soon.

Ideas may look like pretty pigs going into the abattoir, but they all come out as sausage. (This is true for conservative ideas as well.)

While the rhetoric is growing increasingly ugly, big businesses are quietly weighing in for an aye. As the bill looks more and more like what Massachusetts passed, its Republican sponsor finds himself defending the idea, adding a patina of bipartisanship to the effort.

What this means for 2010 is it will be a year for the business of government. HealthIT regulations will be in place, and money will start being spent. Regulations will be written and enforced on whatever passes the Congress.

And the rest of us will go back to covering business.