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Row simmers at US health reform summit
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Row simmers at US health reform summit
AFP - Friday, February 26
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A newborn gets a check-up in Aurora, Colorado on February 23. Barack Obama has warned Democrats and Republicans to avoid "political theater", as he opened a unique televised summit designed to rescue his health reform drive and revive his presidency.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Partisan sniping and ideological divides tore at a veneer of civility at Barack Obama's health summit on Thursday, despite his plea for no "political theater" on an issue dragging down his presidency.
Obama gathered Republican foes and Democratic allies in a unique televised meeting billed as a bid to bridge divides in a poisonous political climate over his top domestic priority, which is perilously stalled in Congress.
"I hope this isn't political theater where we are just playing to the cameras and criticizing each other," Obama said, at the six-hour summit at the Blair House presidential guest house opposite the White House.
The president however, profited from the theatrical nature of this rare Washington drama himself, striding into the talks beaming, as leading foes and allies stood as a show of respect ahead of his opening remarks.
Obama is challenging opposition Republicans to drop obstruction tactics and back his new 950 billion dollar plan to cover 31 million uninsured Americans.
He said health reform was crucial to alleviating deficits and to the future health of the US economy, and was a moral imperative with millions of Americans hit by health care bills they cannot afford to pay.
But Republicans demanded he shelve his ambitious plan and start again from scratch, and said they had better ideas.
And in early exchanges, the political bile suffocating Obama's ambitious reform bid could not be concealed, even as each side tried to show they were providing the bipartisanship voters tell pollsters they crave.
Obama and Senator Lamar Alexander -- the top Republican at the meeting -- clashed over the cost of health care reforms.
"Let me just finish, Lamar," Obama snapped, after the Republican took the rare step of directly challenging a US president in public on his facts.
After Alexander argued Obama's plan would result in rising health care premiums, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid rebuked him, saying "you're entitled to your opinions, but not your own facts."
Reid later acidly accused another Republican Tom Coburn, of filibustering with a long-winded answer.
Many Republicans doubt Obama's sincerity in holding the meeting at all, fearing he may benefit if they agree to compromise on health care reform and believe if they block him he will hammer them as obstructionist.
But opening the summit in a tone that belied the fractious debate over the issue, Obama called on both sides to focus on areas of agreement.
"We all know this is urgent and unfortunately over the course of the year ... this became a very ideological battle, it became a very partisan battle and politics I think ended up trumping practical common sense."
But the president also admitted "it may be at the end of the day we come out of here and everybody says ... we can't bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans on this."
Obama also invoked his own personal story -- the death of his mother from cancer and childhood illnesses of his daughters Malia and Sasha -- to highlight the plight of less fortunate Americans without good health care.
Republicans selected Alexander -- not known as a partisan flame thrower -- to speak first, and he matched Obama's conciliatory tone -- though like the president showed no sign of shifting fundamental positions.
"We want you to succeed, because if you succeed, our country succeeds, but we would like respectfully to change the direction you are going on health care costs," Alexander said. Facts:Main points of Obama health care plan
The Tennessee senator called on Obama to drop plans to use a budget process known as reconciliation to ram health care reform through Congress with a simple majority, bypassing Republican obstruction tactics.
But Obama declined to talk legislative tactics.
Should he finally pass health care reform, Obama could lay claim to an achievement that has eluded Democratic president's for generations.
Should he fail, he would see his political authority splintered and his hopes for a grand reforming presidency shatter, just a year into his mandate.
After months of wrangling, the House and the Senate adopted different versions of reform late last year but they must unite on a single piece of legislation for Obama to sign into law.
Republicans derailed that process last month by capturing a crucial Massachusetts Senate seat that gave them the power to delay final votes with endless debate using a legislative tactic called a filibuster.
Obama unveiled his own plan Monday, for the first time seeking ownership of the issue after an unprofitable year largely allowing Congress to set the pace.
Tapping into popular anger at recent premium hikes by leading insurers, it would grant the federal government greater power to block such moves and claims it could reduce the budget deficit by one trillion dollars over two decades.
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