>> what do you think a tree can be? can it be stronger than steel? can i treat be biodegradable plastic? can it be fuel for our cars, or clothing, or medicine that fights cancer? with our tree cell technology, we think it can. weyerhaeuser, growing ideas. >> i am signing this reform bill into law on behalf of my mother, who argued with insurance companies even as she battled cancer in her final days. >> this week on "inside washington," president obama finally gets his way.

health care reform is now the law of the land. republicans vowed to fight on. >> we will challenge every place we can, we will fight everywhere. >> today i assigned the rules of the senate bill, which will go to the president immediately for his signature. >> how tough is nancy pelosi? the speaker of the house said she would get it done, and she did. >> you baby killing mother- [bleep], i hope you die. >> i take very seriously. i have three little kids. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> it was a long and rocky road, president barack obama refused to give up on health care reform, and this week his efforts were rewarded. house speaker nancy pelosi says it never occurred to her that it would not pass.

colby, you said from day one that you thought the president succeed. what did you know that we did not? >> what caused me to maintain that position was looking at obama the candidate, the presidential candidate, who came from nowhere but showed a steely resolve in winning the nomination, winning the presidency. this is a consequential individual. he showed it with the health care bill. what i said he did not have, he ended up having, which is to o'neal in the house, and he had that in nancy pelosi -- a tip o'neill in the house, and he had that in nancy pelosi. >> is this a game changer for the president? >> absolutely. do biden said this week that had he not gotten this, the president would have been done. especially considering what happened on january 19 in massachusetts, where he looked like he lost the year, this is an amazing comeback and gives him a lot of strength

domestically and internationally. >> barack obama is this week now transformational figure. his presidency will have changed america permanently. that has not been said about many recent presidents. it is a singular achievement. what the political fallout will be in november is still very much open to question, but democrats all of a sudden have an animation transplant, a new smile on their faces -- >> spring in their step. >> spring in their step, and sort of a rosy outlook. how long that lasts, we will find out. >> as we know from recent history, there are game at changers all the time. never write anybody off, certainly don't write any party or movement off. but it is a very big game in changer, and for barack obama,

and the country, as mark said, is huge. i don't think since modeled reagan we have had a president who wanted to change the way the country functions of this much. he got a huge piece of what he wanted. >> two views of the health care reform bill. >> we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations. [applause] we are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust, we don't fall prey to fear. we are not a nation that does what is easy. that is not who we are. >> shame on each and every one of you who substitutes your will and your desires above those of your fellow countrymen. >> profound differences of opinion here. is it a good bill? >> seriously, the devil is in the details. i thought that the prescription drug bill in 1993 was a very

flawed bill. mark mcclellan, who was later on the bush's fda -- >> commissioner. >> was in charge of implementation and did a terrific job. that is really at, at the effectiveness of implementation. it is our real responsibility. this administration, particularly health and human services, kathleen sebelius, a former governor of kansas, a former insurance commissioner there. do i think it is a good bill where 32 million americans who did not have coverage now have coverage? yes. >> charles, as you point out in your column this week, liberals complained about the reagan strategy and by extension the bush strategy was to starve the government beast, and you say that the obama strategy is exactly the opposite. >> he does something noble, ensures the uninsured, but i think it did in the worst way and at this elite catastrophic

way. it did before it fixed -- a fiscally catastrophic way. it compounds the inefficiencies and the system. all the smoke and mirrors in the accounting -- we will see that it was phony accounting. we will have to find a way to ultimately remedy it with a very, very much higher taxes. >> the value-added tax. >> i think charles is jumping to conclusions that we have not reached yet. here is what has happened -- all of a sudden you have millions of americans who will not be denied health insurance because of pre- existing conditions, students who will not be forced to get off their parents' health insurance plan when they turn 21 , plans required to provide

preventive care. those are good things, things we would not have that if republicans had the opportunity to kill the bill. >> i think people will already see the benefits. small businesses get a tax credit for plans. not a deduction, but a tax credit, millions of small businesses. npr's health correspondent, julie rovner, who has been a one-woman, unbelievable force -- she is like 10 people -- cannot get on or off elevator this week without somebody say, "can i keep my kids on my insurance right away?" but there have to be regulations to implement it, and at hhs, they don't even have a general counsel yet. >> let me give you an example of how big an opportunity is missed here. the biggest in efficiency in our system is the link between employment and health insurance.

it is an accident of world war ii price controls, a complete accident. it makes the terror of joblessness even worse. also, there is huge inefficiency in the tax deductions people have. the good stuff in the senate bill was the tax on the cadillac plans. at least it was a start. what happens? because of the pressure of the unions, it was stripped out said that it does not kick in until 2018. it will never actually be enacted. here was an opportunity to make a system that is insolvent -- medicare and medicaid are insolvent -- and to begin solvency, and was killed. >> i am not sure i agree that it will never happen. i agree that there is a possibility it will never happen. but the whole system is going to change. by 2018, that system, the situation that employers face, and unions, will be very different. >> the first woman speaker of

the house caught all kinds of hell on this one, but it was nancy pelosi who brought it to the finish line. >> when you become speaker of the house, you are a target, and you have to come up shall we say, almost enjoy that. >> house speaker nancy pelosi in an interview with diane sawyer of abc news. the republican national committee is saying "it is time to fire nancy pelosi." it says is using her unpopularity to full coffers. i guess the speaker would consider that a compliment. >> she might very well. let's be very blunt about it -- her numbers are terrible. she is not compelling or persuasive on television, she is not an eloquent stump speaker. but let's get this clear, and i stand second to none in my admiration for thomas o'neill, admiration for sam rayburn -- she has done when the speaker of

the house has ever done. three times she got the house to pass national health insurance. she did it relentlessly, she was a stalwart, she never wavered. it was personal, it was political. she is tough as nails, she is single-minded, and she's the most powerful men politically in the history of the united states. -- most powerful woman politically in the history of the united states. >> and she is the best backroom politician of modern times, at times more that is very difficult. she's a terrible frontwoman, but a great back room maneuverer. she has sacrificed things for what she believed to be the greater good there is a great story about her having tears in her eyes when she tells the pro- choice women that it would not have health care bill at all if they did not just give on this.

>> two people on in there were other people or wobbling -- barack obama and nancy pelosi. they were believers. >> they were not only believers, they were leaders. i would correct one thing i have heard here -- now nancy pelosi is not the most powerful woman in the country, she is one of the most powerful leaders in the country. forget the gender. she is in charge of a major institution, and most people could not have done this. she did. also, she is from political stock out in baltimore. she eats and sleeps this thing. that is why she was successful. plus, she believes in this. and the demonizing that comes from the right, the demonizing that comes from the right is of little consequence. it helps them raise money for their coffers. but nancy pelosi is a

consequential figure. and i will yield such time as he wished to consume to my colleague. >> is this making you uncomfortable, charles? >> i think it is amusing. [laughter] i hate to interrupt the hagiography. it was quite a victory, and i commend her, but as wellington said at waterloo, it was a close-won thing. and napoleon was not exactly a bum even though he lost. all of a sudden because democrats have succeeded, they are the greatest political winds in the history of mankind. it all hinged on bart stupak. i commend the democrats. in the end, it was a six-vote margin, right? 218-212. bart stupak had five members with him. he is the guy who flipped at 4:00. it was an amazing deal, but when

i watched him explain his vote, it looks like it was a hostage to take it he was a guy who was out of his lead, took abuse that was unbelievable, left and right. in the end he caved. but it was not a thing that in any way was inevitable. >> i thought he got an executive order. >> he did get an executive order. >> give me a break. >> the very people disparaging this executive order overlook the fact that when george w. bush signed an executive order with stanzel research, this was a noble act -- stem cell research, this was a noble act. the emancipation proclamation was an executive order. bart stupak got what he thought was needed, assurance that the hyde amendment would not be affected in any way by anything in this legislation. we can argue back and forth what

the nuanced meaning is. the president of the united states's word is on the line. besides -- if there is federal financing of abortions at junior high monday morning, we will know that the president has broken his word and he will play an enormous political price. >> can i make two points? if the executive order is so determinative, how come we need it the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment? secondly, on this particular case, the supreme court jurisprudence on roe v. wade is such that every interpretation of these laws require is a statute that would outlaw abortion spending. otherwise, why would you require the hyde amendment in the first place? >> they incorporated the hyde amendment. this is a straw man. >> it is utterly meaningless --

>> federal employees, the president telling them what they can or cannot do -- >> it cannot override the statute. >> it can get them fired for violating the executive order. >> returning to the original subject, and nancy pelosi, she was uniquely qualified by experience and background. she is a catholic, a pro-choice woman, and she could make the case that nina alluded to to her pro-choice democratic women, many in tears, apoplectic, that this is the road to go, and that they needed bart stupak and pro- life democrats, and she was right. >> my question is how is this going to play politically? john mccain and republicans say they will fight to repeal this thing. is this going to work for them? >> i don't think the repeal will work for them. the president could veto the

repeal. that is political posturing. >> you need 67 votes to override. >> john mccain has a primary challenge from the right, so he is charging from the right. i am not 100% sure how this will play in november. he got a big bump in the polls this week, depending on which when you look at. whether that lasts may depend in large part on how the administration handles the beginning of the implementation. >> if i were a democrat running for reelection, i would keep -- take a good look at the president's speech in iowa city. he made the case for the bill in terms that -- of what immediately happens this year, things that will happen. what it will be difficult to take those things off the board.

>> but look at the latest nbc-" wall street journal" poll -- americans memo to congress, you stink. i don't see how anybody can take comfort from this, unless this is such a huge danger that democrats can ride to victory in november. -- such a huge game changer that democrats can ride to victory in november. >> somebody has to take a position. >> health-care support right now is about 10 points behind opposition. it has been constant ever since -- >> that is not true. >> if you aggregate all the polls. what is so interesting is that between now and november, i am not sure if it's going to change. the implementation is very slow. the uninsured is not quite happen until 2014. even the cancellation of pre- existing conditions, that does

not kick in until four years -- >> it does for -- >> it will not have the same impact as everybody being exempt. the argument against its eight fiscal argument, which also is delayed. it will not happen this year. it will happen mid-decade. i think the probable effect in november will be what it is now. >> david axelrod has said that the lost to scott brown and the message is that actually help to the process of law. >> -- the lost to scott brown in massachusetts actually helped the process along. >> a concentrated the attention. they had to do something or it was over. it has given democrats a sense of passion, which they were totally lacking. all the intensity and enthusiasm has been on the republican side. but the republicans have gone for the bait on the repeal.

that is a promise they can make but never keep it is a broken promise going in. mike castle of delaware was candid enough to say there is no way you can do it. it requires a 2/3 vote to override the veto. this is absolutely fatuous, and there is the pragmatism on the part of the american people. they want to see if it works. they want things to work. republicans doing the last digit obstructionist on this is a political mistake. >> in addition to that, we have the economy as the backdrop going into the election. every indication is that by the time we go to the polls this fall, the economy is going to be improving, and job creation will start. i don't think they will have the argument, republicans having the argument to use against the democrats on the economy, and they will certainly not have it on health care. >> in response to the passage of

the health care bill, death threats and vandalism. >> they are received differently by people depending on, shall we say, the emotional state. and we have to take responsibility for words that i said that we do not reject. > -- that are said that we do not reject. >> to use such words -- such threats as political weapons is reprehensible. enough is enough. it has to stop. >> that was representative eric cantor of virginia. he was complaining about tim kaine, at the democratic chairman, a fund-raising pitch. there have been racial slurs directed against john lewis, a hero of civil rights. we have been here before. >> but not quite like this. last weekend, there was somebody on capitol hill to tea party who saywho had a sign that said, "if

brown cannot stop it, a brown can," route referring to senator brown of massachusetts and the automatic weapon. nobody objected to that side. -- sign. that is inflammatory. and where is the denunciation? members of the house, republicans stand on the balcony, pegging on the people out there who carry signs like that. >> this reminds me of the period in the early 1990's with there was a lot of frustration in the abortion movement. and that we -- then we had at oklahoma city. >> they are out there. >> i do not want to make much of

this because nothing terrible has happened. but it makes me very worried, because the level of rhetoric since august, where there have been some of these meetings over the health care bill and members of congress actually had to leave or be protected -- this is not the kind of discourse we expect in our democratic society. >> i agree with what has been said. it is a political threat to the republicans. this is a movement, this anti- movement, as it has been described, that has no voice, no structure, and there for anybody can be its voice or face. that becomes a real risk in that sense. i would point out that when the pro-life movement, the face of it became randall terry, the zealous anti-abortionist, as opposed to the well-coiffed and well spoken planned parenthood

leader, that is important to a movement. in this case, it could be real political damage to republicans. >> you said eric cantor was protesting how democrats had turned this into a partisan, anti-republican issue. how come you did admit to that his office in richmond had taken a bullet? -- how, you did not mention that his office in richmond had taken a bullet? >> they said that it was heading downward, fired up into the air. >> it was not aimed at him. >> were you there? >> no, the police said. >> it was 1:00 in the morning. >> can i say anything here? i think it is a remarkable coincidence that the bullet goes up in the air and ends up in the office of rep who is republican. i think he might at least mentioned it. all of this is being traced to rhetoric on the part of

republicans. this is a free country, this is an impassioned debate over extremely important issue. i did not hear incitement to any of violence on the part of any officials in the republican party. to attribute loonies and people in science -- people holding signs to people in the republican leadership is partisan rubbish. >> on the floor of the house, when bart stupak was speaking, one of his republican colleagues yelled out "baby killer." we should not be going there, and i would not care if it was the flip side, either. >> democratic offices traffic around the country. some of ctu wjla.co -- somebody cut the gas line of the house of the brother of a virginia congressman. >> the only bullet was fired

went into the office of eric cantor, the no. 3 guy of republicans in the house, but i am told that i should not worry about it because it was on its way down instead of up. how many of you have gotten a bullet in your office, going up or down, and what was somebody doing about firing a bullet up or down outside his office? second, during the bush years, when there was all kind of hate speech, accusations of bush being a nazi war criminal, "the new republic" starting an article with "i hate george bush," i don't remember anybody here talking about hate speech or over the top language. >> it is beside the point. what did happen was that you had members of congress cheering demonstrators disrupting the floor of the house, and those were republican congressman. >> the point is not who gets the recon. the point is that there are these kinds of threats. it can get very much out of

hand. is going in that direction at the moment. >> evan thomas's grandfather told anti-war protesters at the height of that fancy, "don't burned the american flag, wash it." that is wise counsel. >> let's all agree on that. >> cutting the gas line is a violation, a criminal act. >> who disagrees with that? >> nobody. last word. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv.