I can't believe we wasted a year on this

We knew last summer that the stakes were high for Obama on health care. But the degree to which this president gambled on this issue was not foreseeable, at least not by this writer. It has cost Democrats an entire year and the bulk of Obama’s remaining political capital. There is little tolerance left for big spending among moderate Democrats. And that hampers every jobs bill ahead.

Washington is understandably obsessed with the political fallout of the health care bill. But there is the gap between what could have been done on the economy and what thus far has been done. And that expectations gap on the economy might haunt Democrats the most in the long run.