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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Kenneth T. Walsh
President Obama and his team feel vindicated after passage of healthcare reform
Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi had a credo: "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." His motto was focused on sports, but it also provides a valuable insight into the way
It all goes back to Obama's success in winning passage for the sweeping healthcare reform bill. He signed it into law on March 23 after a fierce debate between Republicans and Democrats in the House and
Healthcare reform was his top domestic priority, and he spent a year fighting, cajoling, pressuring, prodding, and sweet-talking to push it across the goal line. When the bill finally won congressional approval, Obama and his team felt vindicated. He said the passage was "a testament to the historic leadership -- and uncommon courage -- of the men and women of the
Obama's supporters also say his reputation as a leader who can master a balky
As a senior Republican strategist says, grudgingly, "The coin of the realm for presidents is victory, and this healthcare bill was a historic win for President Obama. If he follows it with another win, it could start an Obama narrative that this is the start of a comeback [from declining job-approval ratings] and that he is delivering on his promises from the campaign and bringing change to
Adds Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, who advised Obama in the 2008 campaign: "The political calculations were, let's not do it," but Obama rejected them despite deep divisions over healthcare within his own party and doubts from the punditocracy about his prospects for success. "We talk about how elected leaders make promises and don't back them up," Belcher observes. "This is a monumental political achievement" in the same league as
From the start, Obama pushed healthcare reform because it was something he believed in. But his friends say it was also because Obama wanted to be a consequential, transformational president, not just someone who is popular in the moment. And his aides say he will keep pushing for other initiatives until his agenda runs aground on
Obama believes success begets success, victory begets victory, just like Coach Lombardi. And the president is mindful that the revered coach's philosophy of winning led to smashing triumphs in Super Bowls I and II, and a place in the
Available at Amazon.com:
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
Obama & Democrats Face Brighter Political Future | Kenneth T. Walsh
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