海角大神

鈥�and gets the President to (sign and) sing along.

There are lots of good stories speaking of Speaker Pelosi鈥檚 own determination and the pressure she put on the President to follow through with the necessary leadership on health reform that only the President (if anyone) could provide.

The health reform effort seemed about to crash and burn just two months ago. As so well in yesterday鈥檚 Washington Post:

The remarkable change in political fortunes thrust Obama into a period of uncertainty and demonstrated the ability of one person to control the balance of power in Washington. On Jan. 19, that person seemed to be Brown.

But as the next 61 days would show, culminating in Sunday night鈥檚 historic vote, the fate of the legislation ultimately rested in the hands of Obama, who in the hours before Brown鈥檚 victory was growing increasingly frustrated as Pelosi detailed why no answer was in sight.

There went health-care reform.

There went history.

鈥淚 understand that, Nancy,鈥� he finally snapped. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 your solution?

Well, her solution seemed to be to keep up the kind of determination, forcefulness, and yet grace and diplomacy that perhaps only the first female speaker (and a mom and grandmother) could provide, as a :

The rebirth of the reform effort is the result of a little luck, insurance company avarice, a subsiding of post-Brown panic among party incumbents and the calculation by many Hill Democrats that going small or giving up was just as politically perilous as going big.

But the main reason the bill has made it to the floor has as much to do with the complex, occasionally tense, ever-evolving partnership between the first African-American president and the first female speaker.

鈥淚 think [Pelosi] is the one who has kept the steel in the president鈥檚 back 鈥� and I think she represents that to Harry Reid, too,鈥� Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Pelosi鈥檚 closest friend in Congress, told POLITICO.

鈥淲hite Houses end up with 鈥� how do I say this? 鈥� they take an incrementalism pill,鈥� added Eshoo. 鈥淏ut Nancy Pelosi is not an incrementalist.鈥�

Neither is Obama, says Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), it鈥檚 just that he moves more deliberately. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think [the White House] were there from Day One, but they were from Day Two,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think they knew this would be the way.鈥�

So this unique Pelosi-Obama partnership, and their blend of personalities, seems to have somehow worked in the end.

Now, of course it鈥檚 still 鈥渘ot over,鈥� even with the Speaker lady having led the President in song, because the by the Senate鈥搊ver the Senate Republicans鈥� objections (off-key dissonance?) which we will hear over the next several days.

But the President has gotten his song out, and apparently now that it鈥檚 out, it sounds pretty good to people. (See this .) Earlier this month, Speaker Pelosi caught a lot of flack (and indeed made me cringe), when 鈥渨e have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.鈥�

But now I think what she might have meant was that the President would have to sign the bill into law and 鈥渟ing鈥� about it more (like no one else could), so that Americans could more clearly see what was in it to like.

Perhaps it was the Speaker鈥檚 special 鈥渋ntuition鈥� on the matter鈥揳nd only something that a shrewd politician who also happens to be a woman and a mother could pull off.

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