US News & World Report: Obama, Democrats Face a Brighter Political Future

Carly Lindauer — April 9, 2010 – 10:10 am | Health Care | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

US News & World Report today reported that the historic passage of health care reform has in fact boosted President Obama and the Democratic Party. The article highlights that fighting for the best interests of the country isn’t always politically popular.

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  Social Security and Medicare, which have helped untold millions of Americans in difficult times. “The Republicans say this is Obama’s Waterloo, but it’s actually his Austerlitz,” where Napolean scored a huge victory against enormous odds, Belcher says. 

Even Republicans agree that the bill was a “historic win,” for Obama:

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 Washington.  

NJDC hailed the passage of the bill and praised Obama for achieving “a victory that has eluded the American people and presidents before him for the better part of a century.” 

Read the entire article here.

 

 

 

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