President's tough tasks before election: Deficit plan, sell health reform

President Obama will be crafting his own deficit-reduction plan and will also shape an election strategy for the health law.

Politico: Obama Deficit Plan To Be Released After Jobs Speech
The drama surrounding Obama's new jobs plan has eclipsed the other major item on the White House's September agenda: to offer his most specific proposal yet for reshaping Medicare, Medicaid and the Tax Code. ... Before the "grand bargain" fell apart over tax revenues, Obama and Boehner agreed on about $250 billion in proposed cuts to Medicare, including gradually raising the eligibility age to 67 and hiking co-pays and premiums for wealthier beneficiaries (Budoff Brown, 9/2).

Politico Pro: Obama's Next Trick: Another Deficit Plan
It is pretty clear, though, that Obama is going to embrace some unpopular entitlement changes -; including to Medicare  ... So all Obama has to do is find the exact mix of health care cuts that can win him credit with deficit-conscious independent voters without demoralizing his party -; while also staking out enough of a contrast with Republicans (read: taxes) that he still has a fight to take to the voters (Nather, 9/6).

The Hill: Obama Faces New Conundrum In Selling His Health Care Law
The Obama White House is grappling with an unusual reality as next year's election looms: the signature domestic achievement of the president's first term seems, at best, as much of a liability as an asset. When health care reform passed in March of 2010, Obama hit the road to tout its benefits. Supporters predicted that the law would grow more popular as temperatures cooled and the public learned more about what it actually does (Baker and Stanage, 9/3).