Although significant, the passage of the health care reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday was just the first victory for President Barack Obama and his party fellows in Congress.

Months of lobbying, speeches and meetings paid off as the House Democrats accumulated 220 out of 435 votes to pass their proposed health care reform bill.

Obama, who is believed to be watching the situation in Congress at Camp David with his family and top aides, should also be pleased after pushing the reform bill forward against all odds since his presidential campaign.

Although the future of the bill is still uncertain, it would have been another disastrous blow to Democrats if the legislation failed in the House, the likes of which happened during the Bill Clinton administration.

Nevertheless, many obstacles and challenges still remain before and even after Obama can finally sign the health care reform bill into law.

Above all, the Senate has yet to set a date for its unified health care reform bill. The bill is still under evaluation, to be discussed at the whole floor, delaying the voting procedure as late as next year.

In the House, the Democratic Party only needs 218 votes out of 258 Democratic and 177 Republican voting representatives to pass the bill, while Senate Democrats have to rally support from all 60 Democratic and Democrat-inclined members, versus 40 Republicans, to keep their bill from being killed.

The risks are not only caused by these figures. The whole country is in a state of crisis, fed by the slow economic recovery, a rising budget deficit, record-high unemployment and the foreseeable expansion of war in Afghanistan.

Although Obama's administration was upbeat with the 3.5-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter, the nation had no cause to rejoice when the unemployment rate reached 10.2 percent in October, the first time since 1983.

The U.S. federal deficit during the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year skyrocketed to 1.42 trillion U.S. dollars, which more than tripled the record level of the previous year.

After being condensed and cut, a total of 1.1 trillion dollars is still needed in the next decade to implement the House health care reform bill, which is causing great concern among tax payers.

When the Obama administration and Congress Democrats bring their health care reform initiatives into a new year, they will find themselves in an even tougher political situation with the 2010 mid-term elections looming ahead.

The Congress will be reshuffled as all House Representatives and one-third of the Senators are elected, which will redefine the status of the Democratic and Republican parties at Congress and Obama's presidency.

National polls conducted before and during the Nov. 3 local elections have shown that the economy and job creation, not the U.S. health care system, remain top issues for voters when assessing politicians and government.

Thus, it is still uncertain if and to what extent the victory in health care reform can actually boost Obama and his party.

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