President Obama has agreed to consider the Republican Party’s suggestions for healthcare, but he did not promise to include them in his healthcare reforms. He also said that he will agree to compromise but warned that he would not be averse to the idea of Democrats going it alone in the pursuit of reforms.
With last week’s bipartisan talks on the healthcare matter failing to come to a clear decision it looks more and more certain that the Democrats will use other tactics, namely “reconciliation”, to bring the healthcare bill to life. But that may be easier said than done. Currently Obama needs the support of two significant blocs of Democrats from the House of Representatives – those who oppose abortion and the fiscal conservatives. Unfortunately for the President, re-election is the main thing on their minds and getting them to support something as controversial as the healthcare bill when job creation is the biggest issue, will be close to impossible.
Obama has long been criticized for focusing on non-critical issues like healthcare and giving burning issues like job creation a back seat. His obsession with the healthcare bill has seen his approval ratings plummet dramatically and in this situation it is hard to visualize a second term coming through.
Call it determination or pride, Obama is steadily battering away at all opposition in an effort to make sure that the reforms will be pushed through. He is expected to release a revised bill this week which includes some of the Republican Party’s suggestions. But the hope of getting any Republican support for the bill is very slim.