THE JOURNALISM WE DEPEND ON - AT 10:12 P.M. ET:  By now the immediate world knows that the Senate Finance Committee passed a health-care "reform" bill today. 

Do I hear a drumroll?  No?  Well, I guess not.  And for good reason.  This is a smaller step for a man than Neil Armstrong took on the Moon.  But some elements of the press see the Ten Commandments handed down on Mount Sinai:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key U.S. Senate committee endorsed a sweeping healthcare overhaul on Tuesday, gaining the support of an influential Republican and delivering President Barack Obama a victory on his top domestic priority.

Now wait.  President Obama didn't win a thing.  This is one committee passing one version of one bill.  Other committees will have their own versions, and the House will have a few versions of its own.  It's not much of a victory for the president when the vote, in a committee controlled by his own party, was a foregone conclusion.

The Democratic-controlled Senate Finance Committee approved the measure by 14-9, with Senator Olympia Snowe becoming the first Republican in Congress to back a healthcare reform bill.

Sorry about that.  She is not the first Republican in Congress to back a health-care reform bill.  Other Republicans, like Tom Coburn, have stepped forward with ideas of their own.  Many Republicans have made it clear that they could back a bill that conformed to their standards. 

"Today we reached a critical milestone in our effort to reform our healthcare system," said Obama, who warned there were still big challenges ahead for healthcare reform.

Yeah, like getting Congress to agree on one bill.  You can't send a bunch up to the president, with little tabs attached, and say, "Decide."  Deciding isn't one of those skills he's aced.

The bill, the last of five pending health measures to clear a committee in Congress, will be merged with the Senate health panel's version for a floor vote.

They're not telling us too much about that other one.

Snowe, who had been courted by Obama and his fellow Democrats, said she backed the plan with reservations and could not guarantee her continued support as the overhaul advances.

Yeah, that's the little asterisk next to her vote. 

"My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow," Snowe said.

In other words, court me.  Give me what I want.  We'll take Senator Snowe at her word that she reserves the right to oppose the final bill, which, if the trend leftward continues, is exactly what she should do.

There's a lot of combat ahead.  As Churchill said in another context, this isn't the end.  This isn't the beginning of the end.  It's the end of the beginning.

October 13, 2009