Meyerson on Obama & the Left

Harold Meyerson in this morning's Washington Post examines the reasons why President Obama will not get a primary challenger from his base, something that doomed previous re-election efforts by Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. He left one thing out, and it is something liberals need to ponder before they carp about the President: health care reform. Here is a signature achievement, one that had eluded previous presidents including Truman, Johnson, Nixon and Clinton. By 2014, unless the Democrats lose the White House, health care will be a right in this country. That is no small achievement. I wish Obama had been better at negotiating with the republicans. I wish he had pushed through immigration reform. I wish he had been able to get card check through Congress. But, he succeeded in making health care a right, and the complainers from the leftwing bleachers should remember that.