Huffington Magazine Issue 12-13 | Page 51

THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION HUFFINGTON 09.09.12 JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) addresses a crowd at a health care reform demonstration in 2009 in Thornton, Colorado. on record supporting the public option through reconciliation. Responding to the pressure, a Reid spokesman issued a statement saying that if the caucus wanted a vote, he would consider moving forward on it. It was a direct challenge to the White House, which had little desire to reignite what they thought was a hopeless debate. A few hours after Reid’s office put out the statement, Emanuel met senior Reid aide Jim Manley and a few reporters from The Washington Post and The New York Times for dinner and drinks at Lola’s, a Capitol Hill bar and grill. Seeing Manley at the table, Emanuel, who was desperately just trying to get a bill through Congress, offered a response to Reid’s gesture with one of his own: a double-bird, an eerie sight given his half-severed right finger. The public option never got a vote. But the outside game changed the fortunes of the seemingly dead health care bill. Obama himself, with his signature effort on the brink, broke with the inside game playbook and used his bully pulpit in one of the most effective ways a president ever has. His aides demanded that cameras record his appearance before the House Republican Caucus retreat