Facing roadblocks, The White House hones message on health care reform

White House officials say President Obama will shift the health care reform debate in September to include more talk of a moral imperative to provide health insurance to all, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The president is expected to present a more emotional appeal during a conference call Wednesday with liberal religious groups. A senior White House official said the message would be tailored to the groups' moral emphases, although he cautioned the president's message to religious groups may not herald a broader shift in themes. … The president's revised health-care emphasis is likely to roll out as summer ends, when White House officials believe a broader group of voters will tune into the debate. The new strategy envisions speeches rather than informal town-hall meetings, said a senior official."

The president had spent a considerable amount of energy and time talking about cutting costs in the system, likely one of the best ways to convince Americans they have something to gain by reforming the system, The Wall Street Journal reports (Weisman, 8/19).

The Christian Science Monitor: "But maybe it is, in fact, time for the White House to change tack on reform, political analysts say. One idea is for Mr. Obama to come out with his own healthcare legislation. … But at a certain point, only the president has the clout - and the megaphone - to drive the process home. One issue is whether the preternaturally cool Obama can channel a bit of President Johnson, who famously charmed and threatened Congress on his way to the creation of Medicare in 1965" (Feldmann, 8/18).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.