"This Is What Change Looks Like"

President Obama watches the House vote to pass the healthcare reform bill in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, with both President Roosevelts looking on from their portraits--two of the many Presidents who tried and failed to get something like this passed. As he watched, Democrats on the House floor were chanting, "Yes We Can."

Then President Obama spoke briefly to the nation, and said: "Tonight, at a time when the pundits said it was no longer possible, we rose above the weight of our politics. We pushed back on the undue influence of special interests. We didn’t give in to mistrust or to cynicism or to fear. Instead, we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges. We proved that this government — a government of the people and by the people — still works for the people."

"Most importantly, today’s vote answers the prayers of every American who has hoped deeply for something to be done about a health care system that works for insurance companies, but not for ordinary people. For most Americans, this debate has never been about abstractions, the fight between right and left, Republican and Democrat — it’s always been about something far more personal. It’s about every American who knows the shock of opening an envelope to see that their premiums just shot up again when times are already tough enough. It’s about every parent who knows the desperation of trying to cover a child with a chronic illness only to be told "no" again and again and again. It’s about every small business owner forced to choose between insuring employees and staying open for business. They are why we committed ourselves to this cause.

Tonight’s vote is not a victory for any one party — it’s a victory for them. It’s a victory for the American people. And it’s a victory for common sense."

"So this isn’t radical reform. But it is major reform. This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health care system. But it moves us decisively in the right direction. This is what change looks like."

In this case, change looked messy, contentious, with opposition dealing in blithe deceptions, and stirring up emotions that had nothing directly to do with the subject. At first change looked certain, then compromised, then defeated, before in the end, change happened--and will continue to happen in the lives of millions of Americans: who can get affordable health insurance, whose insurance will benefit from "reining in the worst excesses and abuses of the insurance industry with some of the toughest consumer protections this country has ever known — so that you are actually getting what you pay for." Who will no longer face being dropped if they get sick, or their children be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Young people who can stay on their parents' insurance longer; seniors whose Medicare is strengthened, with no more hole in their prescription drug benefits, and who will get free preventive care, with free preventive care eventually part of everyone's insurance. And more.

The story continues but the drama is just about over for now. "Tonight, we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge — we overcame it. We did not avoid our responsibility — we embraced it. We did not fear our future — we shaped it."