"Let's be clear: This is a fall, not a collapse. He's not been repudiated or even defeated. He will likely regroup and pass some version of health insurance reform that will restore some of his clout and popularity.

But what has occurred -- irreversibly -- is this: He's become ordinary."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/03/AR2009090302859_pf.html