Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic writes about how health care reform nearly got pushed aside in President Obama’s budget proposal.
Cohn's article says this Jan. 29 photo was taken during a meeting about how to fund health reform. (White House photo by by Pete Souza)
Indeed, there were moments during the transition and the early weeks of the administration when it appeared that the push for comprehensive health care reform might collapse before it had even begun. During this time, a debate raged inside the administration, with some senior officials arguing that the new president should wade into health care gingerly – or even postpone it altogether – because it would cost too much, distract from other priorities, and carry huge political risks.
However, Cohn reports, Obama insisted that health care remain on the agenda and, according to a senior adviser was the aspect of the budget the president discussed most.
Cohn’s interviews with more than a dozen administration insiders provide “a window onto the political and personal dynamics that dominate the new White House. It also offers insights, some of them surprising, into the management style of the president himself.”