Greg Sargent's Plumline: Pelosi: Obama's Health Care Appeal 'Very Powerful' and 'Helpful' to Us

[flpoljunkie]

There’ve been some rumblings among House Dems that Obama’s speech last night, despite its urgent appeal for passage of health reform, didn’t chart out a specific enough road map for Congress to break its logjam on the issue.

But at a presser just now, Nancy Pelosi strongly articulated the opposite argument: That the President’s appeal would be “helpful” to Congress in their efforts to get reform done.

“I think that the President’s, not only his appeal to pass it but his explanation to the American people as to what the possibilities were was a very powerful statement that will be helpful to us,” Pelosi said.

Also interesting: Asked whether Senate leaders had signaled that they could pass through the Senate a reconciliation fix to the upper chamber’s bill, she demurred, saying only that conversations were ongoing.

Best of all, a striking quote from Pelosi underscoring her determination to get health care done:

“You go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll poll vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health care reform passed for the American people.”

It’s often been observed that this health care fight is the defining moment of Pelosi’s career, and that victory would seal her place as one of the most powerful House Speakers in modern history. She seems to realize this, too.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/pelosi-obamas-health-care-appeal-very-powerful-and-helpful-to-us/