For Obama, What A Difference A Week Made NPR
Though the president's national job approval ratings failed to get a boost by the passage of the health care overhaul — his numbers have remained steady this year at just under 50 percent — he has earned grudging respect even from those who don't agree with his policies.
"He's achieved something that virtually everyone in Washington thought he couldn't," says Henry Olsen, vice president and director of the business-oriented American Enterprise Institute's National Research Initiative. "And that's given him confidence."
The protracted health care battle looks to have taught the White House something about power, says presidential historian Gil Troy — a lesson that will inform Obama's pursuit of his initiatives going forward.
"I think that Obama realizes that presidential power is a muscle, and the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets," Troy says. "He exercised that power and had a success with health care passage, and now he wants to make sure people realize it's not just a blip on the map."
NewsdayI miss Tom Daschle and Ted KennedyThe lack of uniformity in pricing, practices, and the information the doctors have at their disposal creates great disparities in care and a Health Insurance Board to set guidelines for health care, I think is something we need to consider. Single Profile: Nancy Sutley Obama talks about isolation of job
