Presidents only have a small window opportunity to get their agenda through, especially when it entails major shifts in public policy. President Barack Obama, unfortunately, has allowed the healthcare debate to drag on longer than he should have and now the road is growing more rocky with each day.
And yes, the president could have done much more much earlier, using the bully pulpit and riding his Congressional allies, even if the legislation ultimately is written in Congress.
If we don’t get the legislation we need, he will deserve a huge chunk of the blame.
Hank Kalet 
I think this view of what's going on is akin to when the media declared Howard Dean a sure thing for the nomination, or more recently Rudy Giuliani. What we are witnessing is the normal operation of Congress, such as we knew it before 1994.
What the hell does it take for this country to wake up? ALL the other industrialized democracies have some form of universal health care. We already have universal health care for seniors 65 and older. We have the VA for veterans which is actually socialistic. We have Social Security disability insurance for the disabled, Medicaid for the poor and SCHIP for children. We should have one-payer health care but I'll settle for an actual strong public option.The real problem is that we have too many stupid Americans who are clueless and find no problem with the present terrible health care mess. Even some seniors on Medicare don't want a government controlled program, they want Medicare to stay the way it is now? Huh? They like Medicare just the way it is but don't seem to realize that Medicare is indeed a government program. Government bureaucrats do not come in between you and your doctor under Medicare. But private insurers often are coming in between you and your doctor.