(MCT) WASHINGTON — Don’t count on President Barack Obama’s upcoming health care summit to thaw the bitter political climate that has stalled legislation for months, analysts said Monday, not least because Republicans remain wary of the plan.
“What could happen is that the president could say, ’I reached out, did my best, but Republicans rejected me,”’ said Ross Baker, an expert on Congress at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.
However, some experts see value in the nationally televised Feb. 25 half-day meeting that Obama plans to hold with congressional leaders from both parties.
“It could be a way to get back on track and talk about what is really troublesome to the average person who tries to navigate the health care system,” said Jack Rovner, a founding principal of the Health Law Consultancy, a Chicago-based group.
The debate, he said, too often has lacked nuance and details — and the subjects that frustrated consumers care most about get lost.
“This is not about evil health insurance companies, hospitals or doctors,” Rovner said. “It’s about a system that is dysfunctional and opaque to the average consumer.”
Still, the political outlook is not encouraging, as Republicans reject the Democrats’ approach.
“We always appreciate the opportunity to share ideas with the president, particularly on an issue where Americans have spoken so clearly,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on Sunday. However, he added, “If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill.”
Obama said that he’d convene a meeting to find consensus on his biggest domestic priority, but he stopped short of saying he’s ready to start over.
In a Sunday interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, Obama said he’d “go step by step through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements.”
Three huge problems pose obstacles to agreement: Fractured relations between Republicans and Democrats in Congress; public distaste for the Democrats’ bills; and division among lawmakers over how to proceed.
Only one Republican voted for the Democrats’ health bill in the House of Representatives, none did in the Senate, and united GOP opposition to the Democrats’ approach remains a central theme of the minority party.
A public majority agrees with the GOP. A Jan. 28-31 McClatchy-Ipsos poll found that 51 percent oppose the health care overhauls now being discussed, and only 37 percent favor them.
That seems to be fueling voter anger. A Feb. 1-3 Marist Institute for Public Opinion survey found 56 percent saw their vote in November’s mid-term election as sending a message to Washington.
“The public is looking for some understandable advances in health care,” said Marist poll director Lee Miringoff. “What the president is doing is a strategic necessity; he can at least get the dialogue going.”
However, Brad Coker, managing partner at Mason-Dixon Research, a polling firm, said he’s “skeptical” that televising the conference would noticeably shift public opinion. “When you have so many opposed, you don’t turn around that kind of number with one little TV show.”
National News
<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/tuesday.gif" border=0> Obama’s health summit faces long odds against success
- National News
-
-
Obama budget predicts $1.3T deficit for 2012
The White House on Friday confirmed a report that President Barack Obama’s new budget predicts a $1.3 trillion deficit for the ongoing fiscal year. The deficit would drop to $901 billion next year under the administration’s tax and spending policies.
-
Navy names littoral combat ship after Gabrielle Giffords
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Friday that the next Independence variant littoral combat ship will be named after Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived being shot in the head last January when a gunman opened fire as Giffords met with constituents outside a Tucson grocery store.
-
Under fire, Obama adjusts his birth control policy
Under fierce election-year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for free birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes
-
They’re back: Social issues overtake US politics
All of a sudden, abortion, contraception and gay marriage are at the center of American political discourse, with the struggling — though improving — economy pushed to the background.
-
Requirements for consumer health insurance summaries unveiled
The Obama administration has unveiled final regulations detailing the new summaries that the 2010 federal health law requires health insurance plans to give to consumers to help them make informed coverage choices.
-
Want an aisle seat? Not for $2,000, Ralph Nader tells American Airlines
As if bankrupt American Airlines didn’t have enough problems, along comes consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who’s really steamed that for a flight Saturday to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the only way for a non-frequent flyer to get an aisle seat was to pay a full $2,680 fare instead of the $700 price he’d already paid.
-
Canadian family members rescued from Pacific ocean
Three family members attempting their first voyage across the Pacific in a sailboat were left adrift in rough seas hundreds of miles from land when their mast broke in high winds.
-
House passes ethics bill after deleting one key section
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to curb insider trading by members of Congress and the executive branch, but not without the usual political acrimony that’s become a staple of Capitol Hill.
-
State Department cleared of conflict, not ineptness on Keystone pipeline
An internal audit cleared the State Department of major missteps and conflicts of interest in its environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline, but faulted the agency for its lack of scientific expertise and for not adequately considering alternate routes.
-
Leaving ’No Child’ law: Obama lets 10 states flee
It could be the beginning of the end for No Child Left Behind.
- More National News Headlines
-
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC
Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion'
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
