Obama's Healthcare Rule Maker Writes Book

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

There's one big reason why some are so confident President Obama will win his healthcare fight. He isn't just obeying the rules of the healthcare road; he hired the rule maker. David Blumenthal, Obama's health IT coordinator, has co-written the book on presidential health policy, The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office, due out July 15. It ends with eight rules for success, most of which Obama has followed. They include: Have passion, work with speed, arrive with a plan, publicly campaign for it, manage Congress, and avoid the weeds. One area not fulfilled is "hush the economists." Blumenthal and coauthor James Morone note that cost worries have stumped past efforts. Obama hopes not to face the last rule: "Learn how to lose."

Check out our gallery of Whispers political caricatures and gallery of political cartoons.

Follow Paul and Nikki on Twitter.

Read more Washington Whispers.

Reader Comments Read all comments (2)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.