From the “well, duh” files: a health care bill that passes with 51 votes will be more liberal than one that passes with 60 votes.

Senate Democrats are talking about using something called “reconciliation” to pass ObamaCare KennedyCare. The skinny on “reconciliation:” they’d only need 51 votes, rather than the 60 usually required to beat a filibuster.

How something can be called “reconciliation” when its purpose is not reconciliation – much more in the opposite direction, really – …well, this is Congress we’re talking about. Words don’t have to mean what they mean in Congress.

Anyway. The story from Talking Points Memo:

…it may be necessary to make the public option more liberal, and thus, more politically radioactive, if it’s to overcome a number of unique procedural hurdles.

This is the needle Democrats may have to thread if they want a public option, and at the same time, want to bypass a Republican filibuster.

There’s a whole bunch of talk about this on Memeorandum right now. Why? I have no idea.

How is this even a question? If they want 60 votes, they’ll have to move Right to get the conservative Democrats. If they’re willing to settle for 51, they can move Left, and in fact may have to move further Left, since settling for a bare majority puts the bill at the mercy of the most socialist members of the Senate.

Friggin’ obvious. And yet here I am talking about it, because I’m a traffic hound who wants to see his name on Memorandum a little more often.