For Obama, Health Care a Huge Victory, at a High Price

David Sanger: President proved he's willing to risk all
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2010 6:28 AM CDT
For Obama, Health Care a Huge Victory, at a High Price
President Barack Obama makes a statement following the final vote in the House of Representatives for comprehensive health care legislation, in Washington, March 21, 2010.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Obama won a historic victory last night, David Sanger writes in the New York Times: Now one of a "handful of presidents who found a way to reshape the nation’s social welfare system," he "can lay credible claim, for the first time in his presidency, that he proved willing to risk all to turn his convictions into legislation." But along the way, Obama lost a lot.

With the health bill passing the House without a single GOP vote, "Gone is the promise on which he rode to victory less than a year and a half ago—the promise of a 'postpartisan' Washington in which rationality and calm discourse replaced partisan bickering." And the president's ultimate gamble is that "once Americans discover that they can no longer be rejected for insurance for pre-existing conditions...or that they can keep their children on their own insurance plans longer," public support will solidify behind his reform. (More health care reform stories.)

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