John Dingell: "I think Dad would have been proud."

[Jackeens]

Michigan Rep. John Dingell, whose father introduced the first major health care reform bill in 1943, told POLITICO Wednesday his dad would be "proud" of Obama's address to Congress.

"I think Dad would have been proud, and I was very proud indeed," Dingell said. "It was a great speech. It was one of the best I've ever heard and one of the best I've heard in this chamber. It accomplished everything he needed to accomplish," Dingell continued, adding that it dispelled many of the rumors about his plan and made the moral case for reform."

Obama acknowledged Dingell at the beginning of his remarks, mentioning Dingell's father as the first to author a bill for "comprehensive health care reform."

The longtime chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who tried to help Bill Clinton move a health care bill in 1993, thinks this was just the boost Congress needs to realize a goal his father first championed almost 70 years ago.

"It will help us move forward with a bill," Dingell told POLITICO, saying the enthusiam on the floor was palapable.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/