Obama taps Gov. Sebelius for Health post

— -- President Obama, acknowledging that no one "has a silver bullet" to fix the nation's broken health care system, on Monday nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to take on the daunting task.

Sebelius, 60, a Democrat, is Obama's second choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

She will tackle what Obama calls one of the defining problems of the times: skyrocketing health care costs and inefficiencies that are driving families and businesses into bankruptcy and contributing to the nation's economic crisis.

"It's a crisis that's punishing families, battering businesses and squeezing states," Obama said. And solving the long-intractable problem is "no longer just a moral imperative but a fiscal imperative."

Obama chose Sebelius after his first choice, former senator Tom Daschle, withdrew his name amid revelations about unpaid taxes for consulting work and a car and driver he used after he lost re-election to the Senate in 2004.

Sebelius, who must be confirmed by the Senate, called the job "a responsibility I could not refuse."

Flanked at the White House's East Room podium by Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and former Senate majority leader Bob Dole of Kansas, both Republicans, Sebelius said heath care reform is not "a partisan challenge, it's an American challenge."

Nancy-Ann DeParle, a health policy figure during the administration of Bill Clinton, was introduced as Obama's choice to head the White House Office for Health Reform.

Obama brought Sebelius and DeParle to the executive mansion just days before he holds a White House summit on health care, set to begin Thursday. Lawmakers from both parties and representatives of major interest groups, from insurers to drug companies to consumers, will attend.

The president also said he would release $155 million in the $787 billion economic stimulus measure to support 126 new health centers to give people more access to primary and preventive health care services. He said he was mindful of the difficulty ahead as he seeks to expand health care coverage, expecting tough choices and likely trade-offs.

Sebelius would bring expertise as a former state health insurance regulator but not deep ties to the members of Congress who will decide the fate of the president's health care proposals, experts say.

Norman Ornstein, an expert on congressional politics at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, said, "it's a tough job for anybody to do right now," but especially for a Washington outsider. "It's like suddenly being inserted as quarterback in the second quarter of the Super Bowl, where you know the coach, you know the game, but you haven't played with this team and you don't know all the plays," he said.

Veterans of the health care wars of 1993-94 expressed optimism that Obama can succeed where Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton failed.

Among the reasons they cite are Obama's intention to let Congress help write the legislation; in 1993, the Clinton administration came up with its own complex proposal for "managed competition" that was depicted by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in an almost indecipherable flow chart.

They also said Obama is reaching out to Republicans and interest groups, including health insurers, drug makers, hospitals and doctors, in ways the Clinton administration did not. As part of that effort, the White House will host a health care summit Thursday, with more to come.

"I think he's trying to set a warm tone that hopefully will have an impact throughout the debate," said Ron Pollack, executive director of the health consumers group Families USA.

They urged Obama to go fast, but also slow: Fast in terms of getting legislation through Congress as soon as possible, before opponents can sway public opinion. Slow in terms of implementing whatever they manage to pass, because of the enormity of the task and the possibility of making mistakes.

"I think that they've learned from past mistakes," said Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami in Florida, who was Clinton's secretary of Health and Human Services. "They know where the trip wires are."

One difference this year, they said, is that the deep recession increases people's desire for change. Obama should capitalize on that quickly, they said, and not waste his political capital on other issues as Clinton did in 1993 with budget, trade and defense issues.

"I think that the environment is completely different," said Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals. "Obviously we're into extraordinary times. In these kinds of times, changes can be made."

Sebelius' initial reception from Republicans was cordial.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in an e-mail statement that he hopes Sebelius will bring "some Midwestern common sense" to the job.

Kansas' two Republican senators, Roberts and Sam Brownback, congratulated Sebelius and pledged to have a "strong dialogue" with her.

U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the chair of the House Republican Health Care Solutions Task Force, said: "Health care costs in America are too high, access is too limited, and American families and small businesses are looking for answers. There is a bipartisan consensus on those facts and I agree that we need a bipartisan solution.

"I'm ready to work with Gov. Sebelius, if confirmed, in a good faith effort to make our nation's health care system work for Americans by putting them in control of their policies and strengthening the patient-doctor relationship. A government-controlled system that rations treatment and dictates doctors, however, is not the right course for our country and should not be an option if this administration is serious about working across the aisle."

Contributing: Matt Kelley in Washington, Steve Marshall in McLean, Va., and the Associated Press