Legal Commentary

Accolades Start Streaming In for Obama and Pelosi

By Jeralyn

The health care vote may not be until tomorrow, but the accolades for President Obama, who says health care will be his legacy, Nancy Pelosi and even Harry Reid are already beginning. From The New York Times:

That Mr. Obama has come this far — within a whisper of passing historic social legislation — is remarkable in itself. But the story of how he did it is not his alone. It is the story of how a struggling president partnered with a pair of experienced legislators — Ms. Pelosi and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Reid — to reach for a goal that Mr. Obama has often said had eluded his predecessors going back to Theodore Roosevelt.

Their journey over the last two months, interviews with White House aides, lawmakers, outside advisers, lobbyists and political strategists show, involved tensions, resolve, political spadework — and a little bit of luck.

The accolades are less for the content of the bill and more for the arduous task of herding the cats. (I wonder if that's how the phrase "Congress critters" came about.)Do most Americans even know what's in the bill? [More...] Seems doubtful. Between how many times its changed and the arcane phraseology of Congressional rules, you really have to be some kind of policy wonk to figure it all out. Not to mention, the media took to using shorthand and code-words early on, as if the public would have a clue of what they were talking about.

Still, whether you like or don't like what's in or not in the bill, if it passes tomorrow, and I'd say it's a 99.5% sure thing at this point, it's a big deal for Obama, Pelosi and the Dems. I'm already thinking of song choices for tomorrow night. Any ideas?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 20, 2010 (boomark / email).