Woman of the Hour

How Pelosi Saved Health-Care Reform

Steeled the White House for fight after Scott Brown.

Health-care reform may be remembered first and foremost as Barack Obama’s achievement, but it wouldn’t have happened without Nancy Pelosi. Politico looks at the Speaker of the House's instrumental role in pushing for reform: In the wake of Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts, she went toe-to-toe with Rahm Emanuel, who was advocating that the White House take a smaller, piecemeal approach. Pelosi lambasted Rahm’s approach as “incrementalist” and “Kiddie Care,” and ultimately, she prevailed. “I think [Pelosi] is the one who has kept the steel in the president’s back—and I think she represents that to Harry Reid, too,” says Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Pelosi’s closest friend in Congress.