White House to release revamped Obama health plan
WASHINGTON — In a crucial week of high wire politics, Barack Obama is seeking to transform his top priority health care plan, now a liability for his presidency, into a trump card to outwit Republicans.
But ahead of the president's bipartisan health "summit" on Thursday, Republicans also think they may have a winning hand, after building their resurgence on blanket opposition to the plan and Obama's wider agenda.
The White House said it would release details of the plan on its website Monday.
Thursday's live, televised meeting at Blair House, across the street from the White House, may represent Obama's last chance to pass the plan, which has ground to a halt in Congress with painful consequences for his political authority.
The talks may also dictate battle lines for mid-term congressional elections in November, and have deep implications for Obama's slowed presidency.
"I don't want to see this meeting turn into political theater, with each side simply reciting talking points and trying to score political points," the president said in his weekly radio and web video address Saturday.
"Instead, I ask members of both parties to seek common ground in an effort to solve a problem that's been with us for generations."
Obama may benefit politically whichever way the meeting turns out, a factor that has some Republicans smelling a trap.
If his foes compromise on radically different versions of health care, the president will likely get the credit, and finally get his signature reform through Congress.
But if they simply block him, Obama can say Republicans thwarted the bipartisanship voters across party lines tell pollsters they want to see.
"It creates an opportunity for the president to demonstrate that the Republicans do have an obstruction strategy," said Bruce Buchanan, a political science professor at the University of Texas.
It will be a significant moment when Obama finally takes ownership of the health reform legislation, as pundits have criticized him for so far allowing Democratic lawmakers to dictate the content of his plan.
"What the president is trying to do with the February 25 meeting is to reframe the issue, to show that he is working across party lines," said Steven Smith, a professor at Washington University, St Louis.
Obama threw down the gauntlet to his foes at a town hall meeting Friday in Las Vegas.
"The Republicans say they have got a better way of doing it. I want them to put it on the table... Show me what you got."
But ahead of the president's bipartisan health "summit" on Thursday, Republicans also think they may have a winning hand, after building their resurgence on blanket opposition to the plan and Obama's wider agenda.
The White House said it would release details of the plan on its website Monday.
Thursday's live, televised meeting at Blair House, across the street from the White House, may represent Obama's last chance to pass the plan, which has ground to a halt in Congress with painful consequences for his political authority.
The talks may also dictate battle lines for mid-term congressional elections in November, and have deep implications for Obama's slowed presidency.
"I don't want to see this meeting turn into political theater, with each side simply reciting talking points and trying to score political points," the president said in his weekly radio and web video address Saturday.
"Instead, I ask members of both parties to seek common ground in an effort to solve a problem that's been with us for generations."
Obama may benefit politically whichever way the meeting turns out, a factor that has some Republicans smelling a trap.
If his foes compromise on radically different versions of health care, the president will likely get the credit, and finally get his signature reform through Congress.
But if they simply block him, Obama can say Republicans thwarted the bipartisanship voters across party lines tell pollsters they want to see.
"It creates an opportunity for the president to demonstrate that the Republicans do have an obstruction strategy," said Bruce Buchanan, a political science professor at the University of Texas.
It will be a significant moment when Obama finally takes ownership of the health reform legislation, as pundits have criticized him for so far allowing Democratic lawmakers to dictate the content of his plan.
"What the president is trying to do with the February 25 meeting is to reframe the issue, to show that he is working across party lines," said Steven Smith, a professor at Washington University, St Louis.
Obama threw down the gauntlet to his foes at a town hall meeting Friday in Las Vegas.
"The Republicans say they have got a better way of doing it. I want them to put it on the table... Show me what you got."
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