Obama faces critical test

With health care, financial regulation and climate change bills - the centerpieces of President Obama’s legislative agenda - tied in knots on Capitol Hill, the clock is ticking on Democrats’ hopes of closing out the year with a major win.

Adding to the challenge, congressional leaders have to juggle Mr. Obama’s priorities with a dozen spending bills and other must-do tasks as lawmakers return Tuesday from a long, contentious recess.

Mr. Obama is “actually batting 1,000 so far, but he’s standing at the plate and the bases are loaded, so the pressure is definitely on,” said Matt Bennett, a vice president at Third Way, a left-leaning think tank.

After watching their health care plans get beat up at town-hall meetings across the country, Democratic leaders are trying to regroup. To do so, though, they’ll have to overcome conservative-leaning members of their party who oppose a government-run health care plan and rural Democrats who fear the economic consequences of tackling global warming.

In the face of declining poll numbers, Mr. Obama will try to regain the legislative offensive on health care in a highly anticipated speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

“As lots of people can tell you - including Hillary Clinton and John McCain - it is very foolish to count Barack Obama out, ever,” Mr. Bennett said. “My sense is that now that he is deeply engaged you’re going to see some real movement.”

Indeed, the stakes on health care are incredibly high, as political observers say Democrats must get something done this year - particularly because they control both chambers and have at times had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

“The Democrats have put so much political capital in getting health care done that if they don’t achieve success, it’s going to hurt their credibility to accomplish anything else for the rest of the cycle - and it will hurt President Obama and the Democratic leadership the most,” Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said.

While health care has dominated the news as the chief must-do priority, Mr. Obama has told Congress he also expects it to pass bills to curb global warming and strengthen government regulation of the financial sector.

The rules of the House make it easier to push through legislation, and so the House already has passed a carbon-emissions cap-and-trade bill to address global warming.

However, Mr. Obama’s former colleagues in the Senate are proving to be a major roadblock.

Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, has twice delayed work on a global warming bill, and the Finance Committee is still struggling to come up with a bipartisan version of health care.

Still, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is committed to getting all three done.

“Senate Democrats will continue to aggressively push legislation that boosts our economy and helps working families build a better future,” the Nevada Democrat said. “Key items on this list are delivering on health insurance reform and clean energy, providing jobs by improving our infrastructure, and reining in the behavior on Wall Street that contributed to the economic downturn.”

With 57 Democrats, two Democrat-leaning independents and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s open seat in Massachusetts, Mr. Reid has numbers to back him up.

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