Obama Pushes Policy Over Politics At Health Care Forum

WASHINGTON — President Obama opened his much anticipated health care forum on Thursday by calling on Democrats and Republicans to “focus not just on where we differ but focus on where we agree,” as Republicans called for the president to scrap his bill and start over.

Mr. Obama, speaking to lawmakers from his seat at the table they shared, not from a podium or with a teleprompter, used his opening remarks to make the case that reforming the health care system is critical to the nation’s economy. He made no opening bids, but instead called on the two parties to abandon their talking points and engage in a real unscripted discussion, even as he conceded that it might not result in a bridging of the deep philosophical divide between them.

“I don’t know that those gaps can be bridged and it may be that at the end of the day we come out of here saying, ‘Well, we’ve had some honest disagreements,’” the president said, adding, “but I’d like to make sure that this discussion is actually a discussion and not just us trading talking points.”

But as the morning ran on, it was clear that Republican anger ran deep. One of the liveliest exchanges came when Mr. Obama clashed with his former Republican rival for the White House, Senator John McCain of Arizona, who unleashed a pointed attack on the president for the process that Democrats used to produce the bill — even as Mr. Obama tried to redirect him to talking about its substance.

Mr. McCain pointedly reminded Mr. Obama that both of them had campaigned “promising change in Washington” and that the president had promised to televise his negotiating sessions on C-Span. “I’m glad that more than a year later you are,” the senator said, going on to deride the 2,400 page bill as the being produced “behind closed doors” with “unsavory deals.”

Mr. Obama tried to cut Mr. McCain off. “John, we’re not campaigning anymore, the election is over,” he said.

Mr. McCain laughed. “I’m reminded of that every day.”

The forum, which the White House intended as a back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats on health care policy, is an extraordinary last-ditch effort by Mr. Obama to revive his health care bill. The White House is betting that the public will tune in and conclude Democrats have better ideas for reforming health care; Republicans are betting the public will favor their ideas.

At the least, it will provide the viewers a glimpse of relatively unscripted conversation between the two parties on an issue that has divided them for decades.

In his own remarks, Mr. Obama got personal, recounting the story of his mother’s death from ovarian cancer, and the illnesses of his daughters: Malia, 11, who was rushed to the hospital after complaining she couldn’t breathe and, the president said, was diagnosed as having asthma, and Sasha, 8, who had a potentially dangerous case of meningitis as a baby.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/health/policy/26health.html?hp