Democrats' new strategy to push for financial overhaul

WASHINGTON - Bye, bye, Mr. Nice Guy. After pursuing bipartisan talks for months on health care and deflecting rather than challenging Republican critics, President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are deploying a more aggressive approach in their attempt to push financial overhaul through the Senate.

In the Capitol, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) explained it bluntly: "Bottom line, on the health care bill, we allowed too many lies to get out there without rebuttal, because we thought they were so obviously untrue. But we've learned our lesson.

"And the minute these things come out of the mouths of some of our Republican colleagues, we rebut them. And we rebut them again and again."

Republicans dispute that, saying Democrats are the ones mischaracterizing the legislation and that they want reform as much as anyone. "Everyone agrees that we must rein in Wall Street," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said this past week.

Last year, though, health care negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee chewed through crucial months before Obama finally pulled the plug. Opponents of the legislation used the time to attack the president's plan, claiming falsely it would have led to death panels for the elderly, for example, and draining away public support.

In the end, nearly 13 months after Obama brought Democrats and Republicans to the White House to start work together, the bill passed without a single GOP vote.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, pursued a bipartisan deal, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid didn't wait to see how that turned out. He brought the bill up on the floor three times in as many days the past week, forcing Republicans to vote against moving forward. With political pressure mounting for changes that Americans support, Republicans abandoned their filibuster and allowed debate to begin.

On health care, angry town hall meetings and Capitol Hill spats dominated the news many days without the administration delivering an overarching narrative. Lawmakers got spooked by poll numbers back home.

On financial reform, Obama has developed a crisper message, citing object lessons like the bailout of insurance giant AIG that the legislation would seek to prevent from happening again.