text: Democrats taste success - Opinion - The Register-Guard - Eugene, OR
  Democrats taste success
  The full consequences of the health care bill approved Sunday by the House of Representatives won�t be known until all its provisions are implemented years from now. But one welcome effect is already clear. President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders have proved that they can lead.
  A failure would have been a political disaster for the president and his party. As Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said last year, �If we�re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.� They couldn�t, and it didn�t. But they sure tried. The bill passed the House without a single Republican vote, just as it cleared the Senate on Christmas Eve over solid GOP opposition. Never has a major piece of social legislation been so completely owned by a single party.
  Just a few months ago, the health care legislation�s fate was in deep doubt. Though both the House and Senate had passed bills, a compromise between the two versions appeared beyond reach. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and others counseled the president to settle for a less ambitious plan. After Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts captured the late Edward Kennedy�s Senate seat in January, Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority and, it seemed, both the ability and the will to move forward.
  Credit for keeping the health care bill alive belongs to Obama and to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In February Obama moved his party off the defensive by presenting, for the first time, a health care proposal of his own and by staging a bipartisan, televised �summit� that showed leaders of both parties grappling with the details of health care policy. Pelosi rejected calls for a watered-down version and, in the end, proved that she can twist arms and count votes.
  The result is the most significant piece of social legislation to emerge from Congress since the Americans With Disabilities Act a generation ago, and the biggest reform of the health care system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
  Pelosi was able to persuade her colleagues to support the Senate bill by pairing it with a companion proposal that makes important changes in the legislation. The companion bill must be approved by the Senate, but only a simple majority will be required. Opponents will be able to delay a vote by offering a series of amendments. But they will be seen as obstructing legislation that improves the Senate bill, which will already have become law.
  Opponents have been able to caricature the legislation as a radical transformation of the health care system � a �government takeover.� As the bill takes effect, its incremental nature and its continuation of the private insurance system will become more widely apparent. As Americans realize tangible gains from the legislation, it will begin to acquire constituencies. As the bill begins to establish a track record, moving out of theory and into practice, the worst predictions about runaway costs and dictatorial control will fade.
  These changes will be gradual � some of the bill�s provisions won�t take place until long after Obama leaves office, even if he wins a second term. Members of Congress, however, will need to deal with the political fallout right away. The 219 House Democrats who voted yes on Sunday will have to defend themselves to an electorate that includes many people who are ambivalent or hostile to the health care legislation.
  Critics of the bill, however, were going to target Democrats in any case. That reality stiffened lawmakers� spines Sunday. They finally realized that leadership does not consist of avoiding political risks. Obama and members of Congress were elected to get things done � and now they�ve shown that they can succeed in the face of determined opposition.