President Barack Obama attended several nuclear security meetings in South Korea as he waits for the Supreme Court ruling on his health care reform law. He read the summary that aides had written regarding the day’s arguments before the Supreme Court back in Washington. The justices asked skeptical questions about the health care law. Health Care Ruling

The president’s prized achievement was at a higher risk of being defeated in the Supreme Court than his aides had expected. It is vulnerable to being repealed by the margin of a single justice’s vote. Instead of being down, President Obama put on a brave face and maintained that the law and the mandate will be upheld by the court. Obama and the White house predict that most of the law will survive even if the mandate of requiring Americans to buy health insurance will not.

This will be a potential heartbreak for President Obama, who managed to get the measure passed despite oppositions from the Republicans. He gambled on the major reform of the nation’s health care and if ever the Supreme Court defeats it, he will likely loss his re-election bid as well.

At this point, President Obama and his advisers have gone past the denial stage but are still nowhere near acceptance. They still believe that the law will be upheld. Former advisers said that most aspects of the bill are not connected to the mandate, such as subsidies to buy insurance. Some aides argue that losing the mandate could be a political boon because Republicans will loss the core complaint they have against the law.

Before he became president, critics said that Obama’s greatest achievement was his own rise. He played it safe rather than take risks for something he believed in. During his early years in office, most of his top advisers told him not to pursue a health care overhaul. But President Obama didn’t relent and he pushed for the universal health coverage.