Obama Achieves His First Victory in Congress

In the eyes of the average citizen and of the world, Obama has proceeded too slowly during the first phase of his term when it is expected that he take initiative.

In the same week that marked the first year since his election, U.S. President Barack Obama won his first major legislative victory in Congress. At dawn on Sunday the 8th, the House adopted health care reform by a narrow margin, an issue that is now the main subject of his domestic policy agenda.

The initiative aims to provide medical insurance to almost 40 million people who are not covered, thus making access to health care universal through a system that incorporates new and increasing demands on private providers and state subsidies. The cost of the plan reaches $1.1 billion for the next ten years and will be financed by an increase in taxes on wealthier citizens, reducing exemptions for companies and a tax on medical technology.

One of the deepest and most specific fracture lines in the U.S. is organized around changes to the health system: the deeply ideological contradiction between the role of the federal government, and personal and economic freedom. This is an outdated argument in other developed states and in “middle class” countries such as Chile, more on the basis of technical and pragmatic reasons than on principle, but one that in the northern country divides its population into two ideological camps.

In fact, ex-President Bill Clinton already tried an amendment similar to Obama’s at the beginning of his term of office, which he commissioned to his own wife, now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It ended up crashing against the powerful medical-industrial, pharmaceutical and insurance lobbies as well as opposition from Republicans and the most conservative sector of the Democratic party.

Obama has, of course, considered such lessons and is trying to build on the momentum of his first months to get this done quickly, especially before mid-term elections for Congress in 2010. He is also trying to engage in a personal way in the legislative process: ratification of the draft took place hours after the leader appeared on Capitol Hill and demanded support from representatives, putting at stake his political base and his image. However, although it is a step forward, the vote is only a first step because the Senate needs to approve the bill and the risk of stagnation will persist.

This victory on Capitol Hill is very welcome to the president. Almost ten months after taking over, his first major policy move threatened to get bogged down, his popularity has experienced a noticeable decrease, the economy has yet to take off completely and market reform seems to have less than the required intensity. In the eyes of the average American, Obama has been too slow in the still inaugural phase of his term, a phase in which it is expected that the resident of the White House take the initiative. This somewhat disappointed feeling also prevails abroad, where the perception is becoming that it is not proving easy for the president to dismantle the warmongering, interventionist and unilateral means deployed by his predecessor.