NY Times - "Obama Strategy on Health Legislation Appears to Pay Off"

[TomCADem]

This article does not comport with the corporate media strategy of attacking President Obama's strategy as misguided and declaring health care reform dead. These cynical News Corp (Fox News, Wall Street Journal) inspired talking points are so pervasive that even DUers recite them endlessly even as the insurance industry tries to kill reform. So, I am somewhat surprised that a NY Times author notices that we are actually closer to comprehensive Healh Care reform than ever before.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/health/policy/02health.html

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Obama Strategy on Health Legislation Appears to Pay Off

WASHINGTON — After months of plodding work by five Congressional committees and weeks of back-room bargaining by Democratic leaders, President Obama’s arms-length strategy on health care appears to be paying dividends, with the House and the Senate poised to take up legislation to insure nearly all Americans.

Debate in the House is expected to begin this week, and the Senate will soon take up its version. Democratic leaders and senior White House officials are sounding increasingly confident that Mr. Obama will sign legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system — a goal that has eluded American presidents for decades.

The Senate Finance Committee chairman, Max Baucus of Montana, described “a sense of inevitability, the sense that, yes, we’re going to pass health reform.” In interviews, senior advisers to the president said the progress on Capitol Hill vindicated Mr. Obama’s strategy of leaving the details up to lawmakers, though they are wary of sounding overconfident.

“You don’t see any shimmying in the end zone,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. “No spiking the ball on the 20-yard line here.”

The bills have advanced further than many lawmakers expected. Five separate measures are now pared down to two. But the legislative progress has come at a price. In the absence of specific guidance from the White House, it has moved ahead in fits and starts. From here on, the challenges will only grow more difficult.

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