Repartay

Josh Marshall says this about the politics of health reform:

Obviously, the unfolding financial crisis creates a serious, though far from unanswerable, question of funding. But I want to set that question aside for a moment to focus on the question of political capital. I just think this is very straight forward. ‘Political capital’ is an inherently, intentionally fuzzy concept. But to the extent we put any stock in it, realistically, no president will ever have more political capital to act on this issue.

Obama clearly ran on the issue. He won by an overwhelming electoral majority and a decisive popular majority. He not only has sizable congressional majorities. He has ones that expanded for the second straight election and to some significant degree on his coattails.

Josh Marshall is an incredibly informed and incisive political observer, so I doubt this is something he doesn’t realize, but Josh’s point strikes at the importance of health care reform starting in Congress. If it’s primarily a Congressional initiative, health care reform is no longer something Obama needs to “spend” political capital passing (though he wouldn’t necessarily get credit for the initiative). What’s more, if the bill starts in the Senate — as it appears it might — then the Senate’s notorious reputation for murdering bills is mooted. If Democrats can harness their large Congressional advantages to shape the bill, it’s not even a question of presidential political capital. Everybody wins.