The socialist wing of the Democratic Party must have thought the brass ring was within its grasp when Barack Obama was elected president, a larger Democratic majority was returned to the House and a filibuster-proof majority was secured in the Senate.

But with the exception of massive new spending, little, if anything, has been delivered to satisfy the liberal base of the party. Health care reform is a perfect example. When the political stars began to align, leftists began moving swiftly to enact their agenda. After all, a government takeover of health care has long been the ultimate goal for the socialist base of the party.

Despite polls that show solid majorities of Americans opposed to ObamaCare, Congressional Democrats trudge ahead. Common sense would say they should pull the plug, in order to appease voters.

But special interest groups, such as the Service Employees International Union, have sent members of Congress out to battle and ordered them not to return without victory scalps. Consider what SEIU president Andy Stern wrote in the November 10th Washington Post:

They will be judged for what they deliver. If at the end of the day Americans can’t afford health care or if the standard of care declines, every single Democratic senator will pay the price.

And Robert Creamer, arguably the architect of the political campaign to obtain socialized medicine, made a similar statement on a talk radio show March 18, 2008:

We need a national movement that says to these members of Congress, if they don’t deliver what we want, you’re not going back.

That national movement already exists, in the form of Healthcare for America Now, which is led by ACORN and SEIU. It’s been putting enormous pressure on Congress to support Obamacare, complete with a robust “public option” and nothing less.

But perhaps another statement by Stern in his Post column truly sums up the situation:

Our elected leaders will be held accountable for the choices that they make.

He is exactly right. The problem is, Democrats in Congress and the White House are beholden to SEIU and other entrenched interest groups that put them in power in the first place. That leaves them dangerously out of step with the majority of American voters.

So Democrats are marching off the cliff for the benefit of Andy Stern and the socialist wing of the Democratic Party.

At some point along the way, Democrats in Congress and the White House must have come to the conclusion that they are likely going to get butchered in next year’s mid-term election. Author and political analyst Dick Morris has already predicted that Republicans will re-take both the House and the Senate. Like a criminal on the verge of his third strike, Democrats are acting as though they have nothing to lose.

They bow to Andy Stern, SEIU and the Democratic fringe at their own peril.