Jon Cohn has an incredibly impressive piece of reporting detailing the internal discussions that ended up embedding health care reform in the administration's budget. The piece should be read in full, but the common thread is that, at the end of the day, this was Obama's decision. He wasn't bullied into it by staff or led there because it was the path of least resistance. He chose to expend his political capital on health reform and chose the strategy that's being employed and chose the numbers that went into the budget. All that suggests that he knows exactly how much he's now invested in that process and is perfectly aware that the political consequences of falling short will be grave. I'd suggest that that may be the reason he and his staff are keeping the door open to pass health reform through the very un-Obama process of reconciliation. Once you commit to health reform, history shows that the worst thing you can do is fail. Far better to et voters decide between Republican unhappiness and a generational legislative achievement than Republican unhappiness and a defeated bill.
