Obama Invites GOP Leaders To Televised Healthcare Reform Meeting
Media reports are largely casting President Obama's invitation to GOP leaders to
participate in a televised healthcare reform meeting as a political maneuver
designed to boost the Democratic case in the upcoming election campaigns. The
offer, made on CBS during the Super Bowl pre-game show, is receiving coverage in
major print media outlets this morning. Most reports give the February 25
gathering little chance of breaking the healthcare reform logjam.
AFP
refers to a "new political gambit" by the President "to salvage his top domestic
priority, which is on life
support."
The
AP
says that the "meeting's prospects for success are far from clear," as "GOP
leaders demanded Sunday that Democrats start from scratch, and White House aides
said Obama had no plans to do so." The
Washington
Post reports on its front page that "it remains unclear whether a
single discussion can begin to bridge the political and substantive policy
divide with Republicans, who view their united front against the Democratic
bills as a key to their political
recovery."
Politico
similarly says that "the announcement of the televised meeting comes as
Democrats have expressed growing confusion about how the White House plans to
deliver a health care reform bill this year." On its front page, the
New
York Times reports the offer is "the latest example of how the White
House is attempting to draw in the opposition party and highlight their ideas in
the midterm election year, hoping that the Democratic proposals look better when
compared to the Republican
ideas."
The
Washington
Times sees the invitation as "an effort to put Republicans on the spot
on health care." The
Los
Angeles Times notes that "for months, the president has endured
criticism that he reneged on a promise to televise healthcare negotiations on
C-SPAN. By opening up the summit to the cameras, Obama can argue he is making
good on that commitment." Moreover, "the summit gives the president a chance to
paint Republicans as obstructionists who refuse offers of
compromise."
Axelrod: White House Looking For Comprehensive Reform Measure
Politico's
Chris Frates reports that "in another sign that...Obama is still working for a
big, comprehensive health care bill, senior White House adviser David Axelrod
said Sunday that Obama is not looking for a 'symbolic' win." Axelrod said on
C-SPAN Newsmamkers, "His goal and his interest is not in scoring a symbolic,
making a symbolic gesture, not putting up votes for the sake of putting up
votes, but in actually getting something done and that's what he's working
towards."
Clinton: "White House Hasn't Given Up Yet"
The
Hill reports, "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an
interview aired Sunday that's she still hopeful for her onetime pet cause of
healthcare reform despite the setback posed by Democrats losing a supermajority
in the Senate." Asked on CNN's "if the struggle to pass a health reform bill
was 'deja vu,' Clinton laughed" and said, "It's a complex issue that touches
everybody, but I haven't given up yet and I know the White House hasn't given up
yet."
Brennan: GOP Lawmakers Using Terrorism As "Political Football"
The appearance on NBC's Meet the Press by White House counterterrorism adviser
John Brennan sparked further partisan sniping between the Administration and GOP
leaders. The
AP
reports that "an exasperated White House newly committed to preaching partisan
peace slammed Republicans for playing politics on national security and making
ignorant allegations about the investigation into the Christmas airliner plot."
Said Brennan, "Quite frankly, I'm tiring of politicians using national security
issues such as terrorism as a political
football."
Bloomberg
News reports that Brennan said "Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
and House Republican Leader John Boehner were among senior members of Congress
he briefed," and he added, "None of those individuals raised any concerns with
me at that point."
The
Hill notes that also briefed were Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Pete Hoekstra.
Bond "fired back at the assertions," saying, "Brennan never told me any of plans
to Mirandize the Christmas Day bomber -- if he had I would have told him the
administration was making a
mistake."
Politico
notes that Brennan "revealed Sunday that he briefed four Republican
congressional leaders on Christmas night," and adds that the "revelation could
undermine Republican complaints about the decision to treat the Nigerian
suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as a civilian criminal." However, the White
House aide's "comment provoked sharp rebukes from the Republicans who received
the briefings, who all stressed that the conversation did not include a
discussion of Miranda rights, though none claimed to have asked about that
issue." The
Washington
Post notes that "Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, said the
senator was given only 'a heads-up that Abdulmutallab was in custody, but little
else. He wasn't told of the decision to Mirandize
Abdulmutallab.'"
Defending the Administration's handling of Abdulmutallab on
NBC's Meet The
Press, Brennan also said, "He was then put into a process that has been the
same process that we have used for every other terrorist who has been captured
on our soil, whether they be U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens -- Richard Reid,
Ahmed Ressam, Amari and others." The
New
York Times reports, "The exchanges reflected a stark escalation in
rhetoric in recent weeks as the uneasy truce on terrorism that existed at the
beginning of the Obama presidency evaporated." The Times adds the Republican
"critique of Mr. Obama as a Miranda-reading, soft-on-terror president attempts
to tap into an historic vulnerability for Democrats," and 'some Democrats
worried that Mr. Obama was losing control of the issue
politically."
