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Obama aims to take control of health care debate

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-03 22:59

US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, September 1, 2009. [Agencies]

WASHINGTON: Hoping to salvage his politically endangered health care overhaul, President Barack Obama will give a State of the Union-style address featuring fresh and more detailed arguments for revamping the system.

Scheduling of the speech for Wednesday, just a day after lawmakers return from their August recess, underscores the determination of the White House to confront critics of Obama's overhaul proposals and to buck up supporters who have been thrown on the defensive.

Allies have been urging the president to be more specific about his plans and to take a greater role in the debate, and aides have signaled he will do that in the address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber.

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The speech's timing also suggests that top Democrats have all but given up hope for a bipartisan breakthrough by Senate Finance Committee negotiators. The White House had given those six lawmakers until September 15 to draft a plan, but next week's speech comes well ahead of that deadline.

It follows an August recess in which critics of Obama's health proposals dominated many public forums. Approval ratings for Obama, and for his health care proposals, dropped during the month.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod told reporters Wednesday, "We believe this is the best way to kick off the final discussions, the final debate, and bring this thing to a close in a way that is meaningful."

Listeners to Obama's address will have "a clear sense of what he proposes and what health care reform is not," Axelrod said. He declined to offer details of what the president might discuss.

Axelrod said earlier that all the key ideas for revising health care are "on the table," suggesting Obama will not offer major new proposals.

But he may talk more specifically about his top priorities, and perhaps add details to pending plans, to save a high-profile initiative whose defeat would deliver a huge blow to his young presidency.

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