There doesn't seem to be any point in my pretending not to be thrilled by the historic House vote that sent health care reform legislation to President Obama.
The victory is even more astounding when you consider that just a few short weeks ago health care reform was being pronounced dead upon the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts, an event that denied Democrats the magic 60 votes they needed to get anything done in the dysfunctional Senate.
Credit for this amazing revivification must go to President Obama for finally—finally!–making an all-out push to get his signature issue passed into law. Part of the reason that this took more than a year of agonizing twists and turns is that the President was too reticent for far too long. Yet in the end, he can take pride in the historic victory.
Credit must equally go, however, to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who pulled off a feat that was deemed impossible—getting the House to ratify the Senate version of health care reform.
Despite the factionalization of Democrats in the House, Speaker Pelosi was able to make it happen. Bravo, Madame Speaker. Somehow your persuasiveness and doggedness did not allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good.