Obama to Tell Senators This Is America's Last Chance for Health-Care Reform

When President Barack Obama will tell all 60 senators in the Democrat Caucus today that this is America's last chance for reforming health care, POLITICO reports this morning.

Sen. [Joe] Lieberman’s [I-Conn.] rejection of the Dem leadership’s compromise, which had put the Senate on track to pass reform by Christmas, makes it possible (though still unlikely) that the measure will collapse. The West Wing believes that it is still on track to pass, but that there remains a chance it doesn't. So with the days ticking away, Obama will spell out the stakes in increasingly apocalyptic terms.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer: "If President Obama doesn't pass health reform, it’s hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task. For those whose life's work is reforming health care, this may be the last train leaving the station.

If Obama does not pass health care in this environment -- with 60 senators and a large House majority -- no president will ever attempt it again. This is the last chance to reform the system in a comprehensive way. There are people in the middle and on the left who are quibbling over pieces of this. They seem to believe if this bill goes down, there will be a second chance. There won’t be. Congress won’t come back to health care next year: It will be all jobs. The next president will not stake political capital on this. If Clinton and Obama can’t get it done, no one else will try."