Whether it’s Intrade, the polls, or the increasingly panicked predictions of doom from Republicans, the signs all suggest that the prospects for passing health care reform have been improving. And that's not just luck. Although President Obama and his allies have benefited from exogenous events, particularly the Blue Cross rate hikes, it seems clear they’ve made smart strategic moves, too. In particular, they’ve managed to simplify the debate and speed it up.

So it’s a bit unnerving to read, and to hear, that House Democrats want to slow things down and make them more complicated. It started earlier this week, when Majority Whip Steny Hoyer made clear the House might not be able to vote by March 18, the deadline the White House has publicly proposed....