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White House announces televised health meet
Carrie Budoff Brown and Mike Allen - Politico
President
Barack Obama is planning to host a televised meeting with Republican
and Democratic congressional leaders on health care reform. The Feb. 25
meeting is an attempt to reach across the aisle but not a signal that
the president plans to start over, as Republicans have demanded, a
White House official said. "I want to come back [after the Presidents
Day congressional recess] and have a large meeting -- Republicans and
Democrats -- to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are
out there and move it forward," Obama said in an interview with Katie
Couric during CBS's Super Bowl pre-game show Sunday. Obama said he
wants to "look at the Republican ideas that are out there."Obama admits health care overhaul may die on Hill
Erica Werner - Associated Press
No,
maybe he can't. President Barack Obama, who insisted he would succeed
where other presidents had failed to fix the nation's health care
system, now concedes the effort may die in Congress. The president's
newly conflicting signals could frustrate Democratic lawmakers who are
hungry for guidance from the White House as they try to salvage the
effort to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and hold
down spiraling medical costs. Obama's comments Thursday night came
hours after Republican Scott Brown was sworn in to replace the late
Edward M. Kennedy, leaving Democrats without their filibuster-proof
majority in the Senate, and Obama's signature health legislation with
no clear path forward. "I think it's very important for us to have a
methodical, open process over the next several weeks, and then let's go
ahead and make a decision," Obama said at a Democratic National
Committee fundraiser.Democrats chafe as White House wavers on health care bill
Carrie Budoff Brown - Politico
President
Barack Obama has left Democrats as confused as ever about how the White
House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, after two
weeks of inconsistent statements, negligible hands-on involvement and a
sudden shift to a jobs-first message. Democrats on Capitol Hill and
beyond say they have no clear understanding of the White House strategy
-- or even whether there is one -- and are growing impatient with Obama's
reluctance to guide them toward a legislative solution. At a White
House meeting Thursday with Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed frustration with the slow
pace of the negotiations and the president's decision not to weigh in
publicly on a path forward, according to a Democratic source familiar
with the meeting.Memo to Leaders Boehner and McConnell
The
president has called for a bipartisan health care summit. I suppose I
am too suspicious, but I suspect this is part of the great pivot --from
blaming George W. Bush for all of the Obama Administration failures of
2009 to blaming you for all of the Obama Administration failures of
2010. After all, David Plouffe didn't come back in to manage
Congressional relations. President Obama could be serious. He has,
after all, allocated an entire half day to the effort.Obama invited Republicans to summit on health care
Michael Shear - Washington Post
President
Obama moved to jump-start the stalled health-care debate Sunday,
inviting Republicans in Congress to participate in a bipartisan,
half-day televised summit on the subject this month. The president made
the offer in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric hours
before the network televised the Super Bowl. Obama challenged
Republicans, who have been largely unified in opposing his proposals,
to bring their best ideas for how to cover more Americans and fix the
health insurance system to the public discussion. "I want to consult
closely with our Republican colleagues," Obama said. "What I want to do
is to ask them to put their ideas on the table. . . . I want to come
back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, to go
through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move
it forward." Obama Asks Republican Lawmakers to Discuss Health Care Overhaul
Kate Andersen Brower - Bloomberg
President
Barack Obama invited Republican and Democratic lawmakers from the House
and Senate to a Feb. 25 meeting to discuss ways to get an overhaul of
the U.S. health-care system through Congress. Obama said he wants
lawmakers "to put their ideas on the table." The president spoke during
a live televised interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric
during the network's Super Bowl pregame show yesterday. At the planned
half-day meeting, Obama said he wants a "large meeting with Republicans
and Democrats to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that
are out there and move it forward." Obama wants live television
coverage of the meeting, said a White House official who asked not to
be named. Asked about starting over on the health-care debate, Obama
said he wants to look at "very specific" ideas that Republicans
present. Obama Asks GOP to Join Health Talks
Sudeep Reddy and Laura Meckler - Wall Street Journal
President
Barack Obama, seeking to give new momentum to his languishing
health-care legislation, said he would sit down with Republican and
Democratic lawmakers to exchange ideas on an issue that has deeply
divided the parties. With the GOP united against the Democratic bill,
Mr. Obama said Sunday he would ask Republicans "to put their ideas on
the table." The half-day meeting will be Feb. 25 and broadcast live,
the White House said. "I want to come back and have a large meeting,
Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best
ideas that are out there and move it forward," the president told CBS
in an interview broadcast Sunday. Since last month's election in
Massachusetts, in which Democrats lost the 60th Senate vote they would
need to push ahead on legislation without Republican support, Mr. Obama
has repeatedly said he was willing to work with Republicans on health
care and other issues. His visit to a House GOP retreat in late
January, where he took questions, was well received in many quarters.
The White House has said it would look for other opportunities to do
similar events.Is there a way to save health care reform?
Dave Shaver - Post-Bulletin
The
current health care debate is turning into a debacle. After one year of
point/counterpoint arguments among all the concerned players, we are
left with what? There is a massive distance between the manner in which
members of the military express themselves and the way our elected
political class expresses itself. We military types are taught early on
to be œclear, concise and correct in speaking or writing to others.
Issuing what may be œlife or death orders calls for absolute clarity
and understanding by all involved. Obviously, this lesson is totally
lost on our elected ones. Thousands of pages of health care reform
legislation, pending in both houses of Congress, should indicate that
the lessons of its own version of the œ3 Cs won™t work. Instead of
clear, concise and correct, our exalted ones invoke œconfusion,
complexity and calamity. What a mess!On health care: 'Finish the kitchen'
E.J. Dionne Jr. - Washington Post
If
President Obama gets to sign a health-reform bill, as I believe he
will, one reason may be Rep. Jay Inslee's difficult experience
renovating his kitchen.He told his kitchen story at a House Democratic
caucus after Republican Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts sent
Inslee's colleagues into paroxysms of dismay, chaos and fear. Brown's
triumph reduced the Democrats' majority in the Senate to "only" 59, and
this led many in both houses to want to give up on health reform
altogether. Even Obama was sounding an uncertain trumpet. This made no
sense to Inslee, a Democrat from Washington state. First elected to the
House in 1992, he was swept out of office in the 1994 Republican
landslide that followed the collapse of Bill Clinton's health-care
efforts. Four years later, Inslee returned to Congress. Five ideas for getting health care reform back on track
Editorial - USA Today
It's
hardly surprising that some Democrats want to run away from health
reform. The Republican victory in Massachusetts' special Senate
election last month made the issue even more radioactive than it was
last summer, when members of Congress were shouted down at town hall
meetings. But none of the problems that made an overhaul of the health
care system necessary has gone away. People still can't get medical
coverage because they have pre-existing conditions; people who have
insurance go bankrupt because insurers cap their coverage for serious
illnesses; and people lose their insurance when they lose their jobs.
To support this dysfunctional system, the USA spends more of its wealth
than any industrialized nation and covers a lower percentage of its
citizens. Meanwhile, premiums are doubling every decade, assuring the
system's eventual collapse. The only reasons for delay are short-term
and political. It's expedient to punt. But Democrats are delusional if
they think they'll inoculate themselves against attacks this fall by
backtracking. No one wins by trying and failing. Nor, in the long run,
does anyone win by simply stonewalling in the midst of crisis, as the
Republicans have done. The problem still has to be solved.Obama Plans Bipartisan Summit on Health Care
Jeff Zeleny - New York Times
President
Obama said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health
care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a
high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and
Republicans try to break their political impasse. Mr. Obama made the
announcement in an interview on CBS during the Super Bowl pre-game
show, capitalizing on a vast television audience. He set out a plan
that would put Republicans on the spot to offer their own ideas on
health care and show whether both sides are willing to work together.
"I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and
Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out
there and move it forward," Mr. Obama said in the interview from the
White House Library.
| Latest Polling |
|
Rasmussen Reports
February 5, 2010
53% of voters say they disapprove of the president's performance. |