It's almost becoming conventional wisdom...

...that President Obama misread the public mood and should have focused on jobs and the economy in his first year in office before tackling health care reform. I think this is a misreading in itself. Like the famous quote, if not now, when? If not us, who?

Obama passed the largest stimulus bill in the history of the nation less than one month after taking the oath of office. Some economists, such as Paul Krugman, argued at the time that it was too small. But the president wanted a bi-partisan bill and was able to obtain the votes of three Republican senators; it was the largest bi-partisan bill possible. A little over a month later, the president bailed out GM and Chrysler in a bid to save jobs. Only after these two historic measures did Obama turn his attention to health care reform.

In April of last year, health care reform enjoyed broad popular support. It was one of the president's signature domestic issues, along with energy and education reform. Absent the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, the president might have begun work on these issues on his first day in office. Learning the lessons of Bill Clinton in 1994 (or over-learning, as some have suggested), the president out-sourced the legislation to Congress. (I would maintain that this was the right strategy. Remember, both chambers signed a bill and would have submitted a reconciled one to the president's desk if not for the special election fluke in Massachusetts. Obama came closer than any president--since FDR!--to get a health care bill passed. That is no small achievement.)

It's also important to remember that the Democrats did not have a filibuster-proof 60 vote majority until July, when Al Franken was finally sworn in as the junior senator from Minnesota. In the meantime, Obama and the Democrats were trying to craft a bi-partisan bill. Remember all the time Max Baucus spent wooing the likes of Chuck Grassley and other Republicans on the Finance Committee? It really seemed possible to arrive at a compromise legislation until the August recess when Grassley made his idiotic comments about "pulling the plug on Grandma." Only then did it become apparent to all sentient beings that the GOP never had any intention at all of working with the majority to pass a health care bill. The Party of No was exposed for all to see.

With the benefit of hindsight, the health care bill failed for two interrelated reasons. The Republicans stalled for time while the Democrats tried to engage them in the effort. This "four corner stall" enabled the opponents of reform to spread misinformation through the right-wing noise machine, principally Rupert Murdoch's Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. Since fear is one of the strongest of human emotions (all of that anger at those town halls in August was actually fear), it was easier to convince the average American that they were better off with the devil they knew (their current health insurance) than the devil they didn't (a massive, socialistic government takeover of the health care system complete with monocle-wearing, dueling-scarred Nazis overseeing death panels). Take that, President Barack Hussein Obama!

Once public opinion was turned firmly against reform it was all over but the shoutin'. It was only a matter of time before the Democrats in Congress got cold feet. After all, we're talking about their job security now. And after the Massachusetts debacle, many of them could breath a sigh of relief (Phew!) that they didn't have to actually vote for what had become unpopular legislation. Let's get back to the important business of getting me re-elected!

So health care reform is dead (again) and the post-mortems have begun. But I still think it was the right thing to do. Health care in this country is only going to get worse and Congress is only going to get more dysfunctional. When would be a better time? I think Rahm Emanuel was right when he cautioned not to waste a good crisis. The opportunity to reform health care may not return for a long time. Meanwhile, Medicare is schedule to go bankrupt in 2017. Now what, Republicans?