Duh!

Congress is starting to get squirelly about all the healthcare promises.

It is still seven months before Election Day, but already senior Democrats are maneuvering to lower public expectations on the key policy issue.

In the back of their minds is the damage done to President Bush’s second term by his failed attempts to change the nation’s Social Security policy.

For some senators, the promises made by Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) outside of Washington may not match the political reality on Capitol Hill.

“We all know there is not enough money to do all this stuff,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a Finance Committee member and an Obama supporter, referring to the presidential candidates’ healthcare plans. “What they are doing is … laying out their ambitions.”

It always makes for an interesting election when the promises get so ridiculous that reality intrudes even before somebody gets elected.

Similar signs of progress on war policy here and here.

UPDATE 4/25/08: Should've seen this coming. There are plenty of other posts from both the blogosphere and the senators themselves "clarifying" their remarks. Sucks when people tell the truth, doesn't it?