The Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act represents a big victory for President Obama and will generate plenty of discussion and debate on the merits of that legislation and of the court's action. But this victory can't rescue Obama from the fundamental politics of the issue-or his own approach to the presidency. Few presidents have sought to change the country's direction with so much audacity mixed with so little understanding of what it takes to actually do so. The Affordable Care Act reflects this fundamental reality of the Obama presidency.

With his talk of audacity and his actual audacious decision-making in the early months of his presidency, Obama made clear his resolve to join the ranks of those presidential greats who transformed the country's political landscape and set it upon a new course. But this cannot be done through mere force of will or by manipulating the levers of legislative procedure or by mustering the full force of partisan unity-all of which Obama did to enact his health legislation.