A certain Senator from Connecticut

It is hard to turn on the TV or pick up a somewhat legitimate newspaper in the last 48 hours without coming face-to-face with the vaguely sinister grin of a certain Senator from Connecticut, who is at the epicenter of the entire health care reform bill under debate in Congress. The grin is of the "I know I hold all the cards and with a snap of my fingers I can decide whether the whole health care agenda lives or dies" kind.

This Senator is an unsuccessful Vice Presidential candidate in 2000, a miserably failed presidential candidate in 2004, and a defeated candidate in the primary contest of the Democratic party for re-election in the Senate in 2006. An experienced psychologist would be inclined to meticulously trace the origins of that grin to a massive pent-up resentment from all of these three races over the last nine years.

That grin, and its associated hard-nosed obstructionist and uncompromising attitude, is also linked to the fact that he also happens to be the second largest recipient of insurance industry contributions, having received more than 1 million dollars since 1998, according to today's New York Times. Resentment plus the serious need to earn his pay from the "all-too-kind" to him insurance lobby make for a potent motivation to drive a mean, "I now take my revenge on everyone who has repudiated me over the years" type of bargain with the Democratic majority in the Senate.

But, this particular Senator does actually have the whole world at his feet right now and he relishes that immensely. He holds even the current version of a watered-down, meek health care reform project, hostage to his whims.

It is not a classic reflection of the sad state of politics in this country.

It is simply sad.

Anthony Karydakis