But what about an imperfect bill? Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) told TPMDC Clinton warned the conference not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. "Recognize that you're going to have to deal with an imperfect situation and take this as the guideline--as a start--with an understanding that if you look back at history, that the laws that were written were not always--that were not perfect had opportunities to be fixed along the was."

Lautenberg added that Clinton is "encouraging the passage of the bill," and telling Democrats "not forget that [Congress will] have a chance to amend these things as time passes."

Clinton also touched on other issues, including education and energy, all with the explicit understanding that Democrats can and must also succeed at creating jobs and healing the economy with the reforms they pass.

"The main message as I heard it was pass a bill for all the reasons that we could articulate on health care but also, and importantly, pass a bill to help the economy, long term especially, in terms of debt, and in terms of being able to have businesses be competitive," both domestically and internationally, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) told TPMDC.

Nice move by our last Democratic president, and who better to stress the urgency of passing healthcare reform (even if imperfect) than the guy who couldn't get it done the last time around?

I especially like the point that some of the great legislation of the past wasn't perfect when it was passed either. The main point is that the American people voted for this. Now it's time to deliver. Bam.