How did Barack Obama manage to kick off his presidency by making exactly the same disastrous mistake Bill Clinton made 16 years earlier? One answer is that Obama thought Clinton's health-care errors were tactical rather than strategic, and that correcting these--by letting Congress write the bill, or by cutting deals with industry groups in exchange for their support--would be sufficient to ensure success.

But if Rep. Marion Berry is right, the answer may be as simple as sheer hubris. Berry, an Arkansas Democrat first elected...