Can Cooperation Work? First Test: The Politics of Health Care The Politics of California Policy Options 2007

The political world lost one its sharpest wits this past year with the passing of John Kenneth Galbraith."Politics is not the art of the possible," he once said, "it consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."Galbraith also said, "Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory."Both of these observations fit the current California political season perfectly.Yes, a fresh, memoryclearing breeze of cooperation hit Sacramento in the past year, and there are forecasts of more to come.The governor is even optimistic he can lead in comprehensive health care reform, one the most elusive and partisan of all public policy issues.There are, however, many storm clouds on the horizon as deficits, divides, and difficulttodistasteful choices lie ahead.