Too big to fail? History beckons on HCR as it did for Obama

And ultimately that is what political and presidential leadership is all about: using the office to generate an unstoppable momentum for change; persevering through the political darkness, the false starts and dead-ends, until at long last, because you just wouldn’t give up, the light at the end of the tunnel is found and the promised land beckons.  

Obama has taken flack from all sides in trying to get this through: savaged as a socialist from the right and as an appeaser from the left.  Pundits have spent the weeks since Brown’s shocker questioning his judgement, his message, his strategy, his staff, his leadership and even his oratory.  And yet here we are – again, on the cusp of history.

In watching the health care debate unfold over the past year, I can’t help but feel reminded of Obama’s campaign for the presidency.  There were many a dark moment to overcome and minefields to traverse even as his historic candidacy seems, in hindsight, to have been destined for success.  For Scott Brown, see Reverend Wright – both moments that cast serious doubt as to whether Obama could survive and prosper.  

Down on both occasions he dug deep into his boundless reservoir of rhetoric and resilience and produced something transformational.  His Philadelphia race speech was one of the greatest campaign addresses of all time.  And on health care, after regaining his purpose, he doubled down, directly and publicly engaging the opposition on an equal footing, attending a GOP forum and hosting a seven-hour debate with GOP leaders.  Both responses were filled with risk and questioned as to their impact.  And yet both I think showed a man of great substance willing to trust in the wisdom of the American people – when many others were all too willing to give up on him and them.  Maybe the polls didn’t or don’t agree – but time tells a different story.

What is clear to me about this President is that he wants to make change that lasts.  He meant what he said.  While this may cause him short-term difficulties he is willing to ride out the rough spots for what he thinks is right.  

Such qualities can’t help but become somewhat contagious.  Even in the daily political grind of Washington, where hacks check the personal ups-downs like stock traders, there is a wellspring of idealism.  Hard-nosed pols can be saps too and while they desperately want to stay in office they often have a Bobby Kennedy or MLK picture on their office wall.  Obama makes em think of those guys and those times and he has given them a chance to vote on one of those issues.  He has made health care, like his candidacy, something that would be devastating to defeat: too important not to pass – too big to fail.  

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