The build up has been intense: right and left (and center) new and old media pundits have said today’s health care reform summit — the kind of clearly defined “confrontation” that TV and 21st century American political junkies love so much — can be pivotal because of what is said there. But is that a it-really-sounds-nice assertion or does it fly in the face or reality?
Our political Quotes of the Day come from MSNBC’s must-read analytical team of Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg who write this:
Will today’s summit convince any Republicans? Not a chance. Will it be any different than what we’ve heard over the past year? Unlikely. Will it be full of health policy arcana? You betcha. But if anything, the summit — and the build-up to it — has achieved this goal: It has focused everyone’s attention on health care. And if the White House is going to convince Democrats to vote for the legislation, it needs their attention.
And what should you expect today?
The White House has two audiences. The first is the viewing public, whom it hopes to persuade that it has reached out to Republicans — and even adopted their ideas — as it begins laying the groundwork to use reconciliation to pass the fixes in the Senate. The second (and perhaps more crucial) audience are rank-and-file congressional Democrats. As we explained yesterday, the big game is getting the 217 House Democrats to pass the Senate bill. The votes are there, potentially, but getting them won’t be easy. As for Republicans, their hope is to stand firm as they point to public polls showing that the overall Obama health-reform effort is unpopular. Yet in perhaps a sign of how nervous Republicans believe they might fare against the president inside the summit, they’ve set up a so-called “truth squad” outside the proceedings. Let the games begin!
The summit will last 6 hours.
Does this fall into the category of “ehanced interrogation?”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.