Mark Warner Gets It

Virginia governor Mark Warner, a Democrat, met with the editorial board of the LA Times Thursday ... and talked sense. "I think Republicans are a majority party in the country at this point," said Warner. "While we have to do all we can to activate every person who is part of the traditional Democratic family, ultimately we also have to go and convince some folks who have been voting Republican."

Warner had some excellent suggestions for congressional Dems: "We ought to be more about offering some solutions. We can't just say 'No.' I don't want cuts, but I do know we've got to change the way we deliver health care." The report notes:

"Warner appeared open to discussing policy alternatives often shunned by liberal Democrats because they involve shifting more financial responsibility onto individuals. Among the options he said should be discussed are encouraging individuals to rely on private insurance rather than Medicaid to cover long term care, limiting subsidies for expensive treatments such as hip replacements for the very old, and preventing employers with young, healthy workers from dropping out of insurance risk-sharing programs.

Warner was not specific about what he would do to deal with Social Security's long term financing, except to say he believed shoring up Medicare and Medicaid were much more urgent problems. Still, he said that Democrats sometimes are too wedded to simply defending the 70-year-old retirement program without considering how it might be improved for current conditions: 'The program itself becomes sacrosanct, rather than what the goal ought to be: how do we protect folks in their senior years.'"

Democrats (and all Centrists) ought to be tuning into Warner ... his is a voice we may be hearing much more of.