Obama moves to retake health care debate
WASHINGTON -- President Obama's decision to speak to Congress and the nation on health care next week raises the stakes after a month of contentious town-hall meetings and falling public support.
The address Wednesday to a joint session of Congress comes as advocates and opponents of Obama's top objective say he must take charge if he wants to succeed where Bill Clinton failed in 1994.
Only twice in the past 16 years has a president addressed Congress on a single topic, Senate records show: Clinton in 1993 on his health care plan and George W. Bush after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
"This obviously is a make or break moment," said Robert Reischauer, president of the non-partisan Urban Institute. "It's time for him to stand up and say, 'There are no easy answers, and these are the choices I want you to make.' "
Republicans said the choice must be to "hit the reset button," in the words of House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, after polls in August showed a drop in support for both the president and his plan.
"I don't think the problem is messaging. The problem is with what he's trying to sell," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "There's a serious blowback and negative reaction."
Obama's decision to address Congress doesn't mean he's scaling back his effort to help the 46 million people without health insurance or to protect others from rising costs, said experts tied to the Clinton and Obama efforts.
"Yes, he's resetting the messaging," former Clinton adviser Chris Jennings said. "But it is not a moment of crisis. It is a moment of recalibration."
As he enters what senior adviser David Axelrod calls the "eighth or ninth inning" of the debate, Obama is caught between liberals who want to revamp the insurance market with a government-funded "public option" and moderates who favor an incremental approach.
Both efforts have stumbled. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the public option wasn't essential. Six senators seeking a compromise ran into trouble after one, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged his donors to defeat "Obama-care."
