The day after the health care summit the question is: Can Pelosi get the votes?

First of all, can we call a moratorium on the use of the word "extraordinary" when discussing yesterday's all-day health care summit at Blair House?

I heard it described that way yesterday on CNN by John King, then again last night by Judy Woodruff on the PBS News Hour, and then twice again in written descriptions of the nationally televised meeting in the NY Times.

We also  had Gerald Seib in the Wall Street Journal calling the event  a "remarkable" session.

Boy, are we defining certain events down, to paraphrase the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, aren't we?  I suppose what with the much remarked lack of civility in our politics of late, the fact that John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and President Obama can sit in a room together and not be disrespectful to one another connotates such praise, but wouldn't it really be "extraordinary" if minds were actually changed, and the two sides somehow came together? 

This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2010.