Tim Fernholz asks whether Democrats will learn some lessons from their health-care victory or make the same tactical blunders on financial reform. If you want to understand what passing health-care reform means for the Democrats' political situation, all you need to do is look back at the headlines. Yesterday, POLITICO, the high-octane rag that drives the D.C. news cycle, ran a story called "Timing right for Democrats' midterm election hopes." Just two months ago, a piece on health-care politics was flagged, "Sour swing voters desert Democrats." What changed during the interval between the two stories? The Democrats demonstrated they could stand on their principles. While the election of Scott Brown to the Massachusetts Senate seat and the elimination of the illusory filibuster-proof majority sent most of establishment D.C. into paroxysms, a few observers – notably the New Republic's Jonathan Chait – argued that the election did little to alter the structure of the debate. The only real difference between January and March was that the Democrats decided to pass the bill. The party of indecision finally figured out it wanted something, and got it. This assertiveness should be an object lesson going forward: Americans love success, as Markos Moulitsas observed when a post-passage poll showed 49 percent of Americans in support of the bill, with only 40 percent opposed. The press loves it, too. The Obama team hasn't always maintained its campaign stance of ignoring the daily news cycle, but it clearly understands that the media will happily concede "momentum" to whichever party brings a confident focus on the big picture. Meanwhile, Republicans are saying they won't work with Democrats anymore, whatever that means in a Congressional session that has seen record-breaking obstruction. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Republicans most willing to negotiate with the White House, has scuttled an immigration compromise he developed. His old friend, Sen. John McCain, is scuttling everything. "There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year," McCain said. "They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it." KEEP READING. . .