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FRONTLINE: Obama's Deal

President Obama stands in front of his desk at the White House. "Obama's Deal" takes viewers inside the hand-to-hand combat between the White House, lobbyists and Congress over health care reform, to reveal the behind closed doors deals and tough tradeoffs made by an administration determined to take on one of the most difficult issues to cross the President’s desk during his first year in office.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Obama stands in front of his desk at the White House. "Obama's Deal" takes viewers inside the hand-to-hand combat between the White House, lobbyists and Congress over health care reform, to reveal the behind closed doors deals and tough tradeoffs made by an administration determined to take on one of the most difficult issues to cross the President’s desk during his first year in office.

Airs Friday, November 5, 2010 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

Health care reform was the first big policy deal taken on by the Obama administration. Many say the president has bet the mid-term elections, possibly his presidency, on the outcome. In "Obama's Deal," FRONTLINE goes behind closed doors at the White House, in Congress and the boardrooms of the giant health care lobby to examine the political battles and costly compromises that defined Barack Obama’s endeavor.

From early positive efforts, through the bitter battles with the Tea Party, the elation of apparent success at Christmas, to the crushing failure in the Massachusetts’ Senatorial election, this program follows the story and reveals the first in-depth look at how the Obama administration operates.

In “Obama’s Deal,” veteran producer Michael Kirk (“Bush’s War,” “Dreams of Obama,” “Inside the Meltdown,” “The Warning”) provides a sobering exposé of the realities of American politics, the power of special interest groups and the role of money in policy making.

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The full episode of "Obama's Deal" is available for online viewing.

Trailer: Frontline: Obama's Deal