I told him up front. If you go back 60 years what every president tried to do, including my own battle scars from President Clinton and the amount of time and political cost . . . If you’re doing this, you can’t do this, this and this. And you’ve got to weigh that and can you still achieve something on health care vs. also still trying to get other things done.
I told him many times the political cost of doing this and, thank God for the rest of the country he didn’t listen to me. -former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual on the Supreme Court ruling
The president didn't listen, and he accomplished much more than conventional wisdom would allow.