The Promise, by Jonathan Alter: on Health Care

Barack Obama: OpEd: gambler's instinct over "Slow Down crowd"

The great irony was that a candidate who came to office in part because of his silver tongue was unable until 2010 to explain convincingly why the country should follow him on health care. He failed to persuade his fellow Democrats to use their fleeting 61 vote supermajority in the Senate to enact more of his program.

Joe Biden: Advised delaying ObamaCare while busy avoiding Depression

Whether to pursue major health care reform in the first year had been a furious topic of debate going back to the transition. Rahm believed that pushing something too big on health care in 2009 was a mistake.

Joe Biden was on Rahm's side. He said during the transition that the Americans he and Obama had met on the campaign trail would understand if health care reform had to be delayed because the government was busy avoiding a depression. "They'll give you a pass on this one," he told the president. Anyone who knew Congress understood that getting a bipartisan bill would be difficult amid so much economic wreckage.

Rahm Emanuel: Advised delaying ObamaCare while busy avoiding depression

Whether to pursue major health care reform in the first year had been a furious topic of debate going back to the transition. Rahm believed that pushing something too big on health care in 2009 was a mistake.

Joe Biden was on Rahm's side. He said during the transition that the Americans he and Obama had met on the campaign trail would understand if health care reform had to be delayed because the government was busy avoiding a depression. "They'll give you a pass on this one," he told the president. Anyone who knew Congress understood that getting a bipartisan bill would be difficult amid so much economic wreckage.