New York Times: “The passage of the Affordable Care Act would be his signature legislative achievement, but it propelled Republicans to a sweeping midterm election victory and control of the House. And Mr. Obama thought he might be the next to pay the price at the ballot box.”
Said Obama to an aide in late 2010: “This is shaping up to be a one-term presidency.”
“He turned out to be wrong, but the fatalism Mr. Obama expressed privately that day captured the weighty consequences of one of Washington’s most high-wire legislative battles in modern times.”
“A new set of oral histories released on Friday, on the eve of its 14th anniversary on Saturday, documents the behind-the-scenes struggle to transform the nation’s health care system to cover tens of millions of Americans without insurance.”
