Today the top congressional Democrats working on health care reform went to the White House to meet with President Obama and his top advisors. That's not particularly unusual.
The meeting went eight hours, from 10:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. And, according to the White House, Obama was present for most of it, ducking out only to deal with the crisis in Haiti.
That is unusual. Very unusual.
In an official statement following the meeting, Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they made "significant progress in bridging the remaining gaps between the two health insurance reform bills."
After all of that time spent talking, one would certainly hope so.