Senator Bob Kerrey Brings Out The Best in Imus

Senator Bob Kerrey, the President at the New School in New York City, is authorized to officiate weddings, as he did for Steve Martin last year. Unbeknownst to Kerrey, Imus is also a licensed ordained minister, but he has yet to perform a ceremony.

“You’ll feel different after you’ve married somebody,” said Kerrey. “You’ll feel more holy.”

That’s impossible, Senator.

Kerrey watched some of yesterday’s White House health care summit, and found it mostly sad. “This is too big a problem, and it seems like they’re a long way apart,” he said of the two political parties.

There are so many particulars to address within health care reform—like out of control costs, too many uninsured, and the sheer cost of other federal programs—that Republicans and Democrats are at what seems like a standoff.

Kerrey does not ascribe to Frank Luntz’s theory that a more integrated seating arrangement would have made for happier discussions yesterday. “They didn’t go in there with the intent to negotiate any kind of agreement,” he said.

With polls showing Americans are craving substantial change to health care, it would be in the Republicans’ best interests to propose some fundamental changes to the system, which they are loathe to do, Kerrey said.

The bill will probably be passed by reconciliation so that Democrats can hammer it through without all of the votes they would normally need.  While Imus was critical of employing reconciliation on such an emotional issue, Kerrey said that is precisely when reconciliation is needed most.

“People were vested in the tax cuts emotionally as well,” he said, referring to the GOP using reconciliation to get that bill through during the Bad Bush administration. “Civil Rights was an emotional issue, and it took 60 votes. There was a filibuster, and they had to break the filibuster.”

At moments like this, Imus, his guest, and the audience are reminded of one thing: “Oftentimes when I go into these conversations with you and others, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing,” Imus admitted.

Well, he might know better what he’s doing than the Afghan troops do. “There’s a big differential between what the American troops can do, and the Afghan troops can do,” said Kerrey, a former Marine. Though he supports Obama’s decision to up the ante in Afghanistan, he acknowledged that there really is no good choice in that country. 

“This is not going to be heartwarming in the end,” he added. In that way, the struggle in Afghanistan is a lot like Glenn Beck’s daily television program.

-Julie Kanfer