Word: obamas
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...Obama, however, was undeterred by the defeat, and just four years later won the U.S. Senate seat that positioned him for the White House. The congressional race, as it happened, was merely an aberration in a series of professional and political triumphs unmarred by any genuine or lasting setbacks. Even when he ceded a few key primary contests to Hillary Clinton in 2008, Obama was able to swiftly regain the upper hand. To this day, then, the Rush contest stands out as an anomaly in Obama's political life, when a loss seemed to truly threaten his future. (See pictures...
...that are designed to get health care legislation to his desk, it will be a calamitous failure for his presidency and for him personally, dwarfing the potholes he has hit during his first bumpy year in office. Indeed, the notion of defeat is so unthinkable for his Administration that Obama's foremost argument in rounding up support in the House and Senate is a panoptic imperative: health care is too important - politically and substantively - to fail. Should the effort collapse, regaining political traction would be nigh impossible any time soon, if ever. And a potential comeback would be in further...
...course, and in some cases failed to head off the harsh squalls that have made this final stage so arduous. Most important, the President long ago lost control of the message behind his drive for health care. Now, as far as a wary and weary American public is concerned, Obama's health care endeavor means messy legislative wrangling and a frightening increase in government spending rather than necessary and overdue improvements to a system defined by inefficiency and rising costs. (See pictures from the front lines of the health care debate...
...civilian griping has heightened the fraught congressional machinations. As Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their allies seek the final cache of votes required to clear the next hurdle in the House, they have one hand tied behind them. Business-as-usual eleventh-hour incentives are off limits after the pointed backlash against a spate of clumsy sweetheart deals like the so-called Cornhusker Kickback given to Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. That's why the reality for the Democratic Party - that they must all hang together on the health care vote or they will surely all be hung separately...
...From the get-go, the President wished for the best but expected the worst. Obama hoped for bipartisan support but knew his expansive goals for expanded coverage would make it a challenge. He knew that the press coverage would emphasize setbacks and discord over progress. He knew it would be necessary to publicly downplay his sway over Congress's committee process while laboring behind the scenes to keep the Hill on track in timing and substance. He knew setting public deadlines for congressional action was a necessary risk. He knew that it was vital to make deals with...