I'm happy that health reform has made it through a maze of Minotaurian convolutions. Given the uproar, though, why not go for broke, for, say for a single payer plan?

Still, we probably would have ended up with a bulky, patchwork bill full of compromises and backtracks that addresses many problems, and leaves others untouched, but still institutes reform that is still badly needed. This is a democracy, and no matter how misguided the opposition may be, everyone gets invited to the table.

Obama promised change, and this bill, it now appears, moves us significantly in that direction. Our country is, I've come to think, much like the Titanic. It takes huge energy to turn the ship of state, and it's not going to happen in a hurry just because that iceberg is looming in the distance.

So a moment for joy and revelry, triumph, success, a modicum of hope. It's deeply satisfying to see kudos being showered on Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House.

And...better to ignore the right, with it's recriminations and sour grapes. Yet moderate David Brooks, the NYT columnist, snagged me. He tosses a red herring of congratulation to the Democrats, acknowleges the bill represents change both welcome and needed. Then, out comes that herring again and we get slapped. Those reform minded Democrats will sap our nation's vitality.

Is it possible, Mr. Brook, you are mistaking the recent bubble for vitality? Or is it the ditzy sex appeal of Sarah Palin? Is this vitality or just viagra for a 24 hour entertainment media flirting with the glee of childish misbehavior?

If you want to see real vitality, check out the Coffee Party, where a quarter of a million people have signed up to a movement which garnered more hits on Facebook in two weeks than the Tea Party mustered in two years.

And who could be more vital than Barack Obama? With his beautiful wife and children. The acceptance speech, the Inauguration, that was pretty powerful stuff, wasn't it? Would a modern Lincoln twittering Gettysburg address snippets in daily soundbites satisfy you? Or would it get boring after, you know, a few weeks?

The slave trade, now there was vigor and vitality. We owe some of our greatest world monuments to it. Something else, however, arises in the gorge when human beings are being ruthlessly exploited, which is why Obama and his family represent an incredible beacon of hope to the world.

Some of us are energized by social responsibility. All over the country inventive and even whimsical spirits are wedding with organic, sustainable solutions and proving that doing right doesn't have to be dull. Surely you've noticed? The green revolution?

Reading poems, making music, dreaming, participating in colorful extravaganzas like Burning Man are ways we celebrate the joyful, lusty, creative forces of life. These are energies are probably not found in anemic museums of conceptual mash ups that you might frequent, nor in the intellectual eye candy of NYC galleries. Everywhere you look, even in tiny towns in otherwise red states, progressive art, music, film is burgeoning.

American productivity, it's true, grew under the Bush administration. But is it really vitality or desperation that has Americans taking on second jobs and working overtime just to make ends meet?

The Republicans, I think, are suffering a big hangover. Beating raw eggs into a morning bloody Mary, and calling it an energy drink.

This nation have tremendous challenges to face up to. We need to energize our economy, rebuild our infrastructure, reduce our carbon emissions and dependence on coal and oil---and, if you want to know what does makes me angry, it's the way the Republicans are dragging their feet and hoping to sabotage the process. Wanted Obama to fail is hoping that America will fail.

With one great success behind him, can Obama harness that good will, and righteous populist anger to reign in the moguls of Wall Street, rally the progressive forces for cap and trade system? Can he create enough jobs to give people hope again and fill the vacuum left by the financial bust? And if he does, will Americans cheer him on?

Have we learned from it what we need for next battle? Because there will be a battle.