The New York Times recounts the steps Democrats took to regroup on the health overhaul legislation after losing their filibuster proof majority in the Senate after Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown in January. According to the Times account, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi helped steer President Barack Obama away from a more modest approach on health care. '"We're in the majority,' Ms. Pelosi told the president. 'We'll never have a better majority in your presidency in numbers than we've got right now. We can make this work," the paper reported.
"Now, in what could become a legislative Lazarus tale — or at least the most riveting cliffhanger of the Obama presidency so far— the House is set to take up the health bill for what Democrats hope will be the last time. For Mr. Obama, who vowed earlier this month to do 'everything in my power' to see the bill to fruition, the measure's passage would be an extraordinary triumph. Its defeat could weaken him for the rest of his days in office. ... But the story of how he did it is not his alone. It is the story of how a struggling president partnered with a pair of experienced legislators — Ms. Pelosi and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Reid — to reach for a goal that Mr. Obama has often said had eluded his predecessors going back to Theodore Roosevelt" (Stolberg, Zeleny and Hulse, 3/20).
Politico also offers a behind the scenes recounting of those past weeks, reporting that Pelosi made "clear she would accept nothing short of a big-bang health care push - dismissing the White House chief of staff [Rahm Emanuel] as an 'incrementalist.' Pelosi even coined a term to describe Emanuel's scaled-down approach: 'Kiddie Care,' according to a person privy to the call. ..."