Start with a proposal that does 80% of the job, whittle it down to 60% to make it cheaper just because, cut that in half to please Republicans who won't vote for it anyway, throw in some additional complication and means testing to please random "moderate" Democrats, and you're left with something that is complicated and confusing that you're unable (or justifiably unwilling) to take credit for. Then spend another 3 months "debating" it just to give time for people all over the spectrum to point out why it's shit.
This is what the supposedly sensible, moderate, grown up politicians do. Then they can blame The Left because twitter user TrotskyChavez420 tweeted, "fuck the pigs."
