Reminder that the Dems have a chance to get this health care reform passed and it is not entirely Obama's task to win or lose. Lots of missteps along this route, but Douthat is right that the party has a signature issue that is certainly not as divisive as, say, immigration reform, but individual congressfolks seem to be juggling all the usual political assumptions when in reality the Democrats have the votes to pull this thing off. I'd like to see something like backbone in these next days of activity in this, and a moral equivalent of war for the people whose health care is hanging in the balance. You only have to hear the stories of the umemployed losing coverage, long lines at free clinics here and there, to realize this issue has bite, and in spite of the naysayers, is doable and should be done at this point in time. BP

In reality, the health care wrestling match is less a test of Mr. Obama’s political genius than it is a test of the Democratic Party’s ability to govern. This is not the Reagan era, when power in Washington was divided, and every important vote required the president to leverage his popularity to build trans-party coalitions. Fox News and Sarah Palin have soapboxes, but they don’t have veto power. Mr. Obama could be a cipher, a nonentity, a Millard Fillmore or a Franklin Pierce, and his party would still have the power to pass sweeping legislation without a single Republican vote.

What’s more, health care reform is the Democratic Party’s signature issue. Its wonks have thought longer and harder about it than any other topic. Its politicians are vastly better at talking about the subject than Republicans: if an election is fought over health care, bet on the Democrat every time. And for all the complexity involved, it’s arguably easier to tackle than other liberal priorities. It’s more popular than cap and trade, it’s less likely to split the party than immigration and it’s more amenable to technocratic interventions than income inequality.

If the Congressional Democrats can’t get a health care package through, it won’t prove that President Obama is a sellout or an incompetent. It will prove that Congress’s liberal leaders are lousy tacticians, and that its centrist deal-makers are deal-makers first, poll watchers second and loyal Democrats a distant third. And it will prove that the Democratic Party is institutionally incapable of delivering on its most significant promises.

You have to assume that on some level Congress understands this — which is why you also have to assume that some kind of legislation will eventually pass.

If it doesn’t, President Obama will have been defeated. But it’s the party, not the president, that will have failed.

Russ Douthat NY Times 8-24-08