Politics Today: Crunch Time for Health Care Reform
Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
**President Obama intensifies health care push...
**40th anniversary of the Moon landing...
**Another sex scandal brewing?...
5170274HEALTH CARE: With Congress facing President Obama's deadline to pass health care reform by its August recess and the president himself facing questions from Congress and sinking poll numbers on the issue, Mr. Obama will be using in full salesman mode this week.
Today, he heads to the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for a roundtable discussion with health care providers before making a statement at 1:05 p.m. ET. Then, it's back to "Campaign Obama" as he holds a prime time news conference Wednesday night, before heading to Cleveland on Thursday to continue his push for health care reform.
"Senior White House aides promise 'an aggressive public and private schedule' for Obama as he presses his case for reform, including ... heavy use of Internet video to broadcast his message beyond the reach of the traditional media," report the Washington Post's Michael D. Shear and Shailagh Murray.
"'Our strategy has been to allow this process to advance to the point where it made sense for the president to take the baton. Now's that time,' said senior adviser David Axelrod. 'I don't know whether he will Twitter or tweet. But he's going to be very, very visible.' Another senior White House aide added: 'It's time to raise the stakes on this.'"
"The Senate Finance Committee, which is seeking a bipartisan compromise, has failed to reach an agreement even as two House committees and a Senate panel cleared their versions of the legislation with only Democratic approval," report Bloomberg News' Kristin Jensen and Laura Litvan.
"Chairman Max Baucus said a deal will come this week at the earliest, a month after he had planned to finish a draft and get a panel vote.
Politico's Jonathan Martin points out that it seems President Obama is softening his deadline for Congress to take action.
"In his most recent remarks, President Obama has stopped mentioning what had been his mantra — that the House and Senate finish their health-care bills by the August recess — and switched to a less specific call to fast action. The increased flexibility follows resistance by key senators in both parties to what they have called an 'artificial deadline.' A White House aide said the president isn't letting up. 'No change in the timeline,' said the aide.""
This morning, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele will hammer Mr. Obama and the Democrats' handling of health care at a speech, according to excerpts of his remarks obtained by the Associated Press.
5173860"Obama-Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions," Steele will say.
"Many Democrats outside of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Waxman cabal know that voters won't stand for these kinds of foolish prescriptions for our health care. We do too. That's why Republicans will stop at nothing to remind voters about the risky experimentation going on in Washington..."
"[The president] tells us he doesn't want to spend more than we have, he doesn't want the deficit to go up, he doesn't want to live off borrowed money. But he also told us he didn't want to run an auto company. President Obama justifies this spending by saying the devil made him do it. He doesn't."
The AP adds, "Republican officials said they were supplementing Steele's speech with a round of television advertising designed to oppose government-run health care. No details were immediately available on the areas where the commercials would run or their cost."
Politico's Chris Frates reports on a new TV ad from the health insurance industry that will run "in the districts of at least 10 moderate Democratic lawmakers"
"For the first time since Harry and Louise helped sink health care reform in 1994, the insurance industry is back on the airwaves Monday with a seven-figure, national cable television ad campaign. The soft, feel-good commercial is unlikely to have the same resonance as the industry's Harry and Louise spots, where a fictional couple's kitchen-table gripes about a government-run health system helped doom reform 15 years ago. And that, it seems, is by design. …
"Perhaps more illuminating is what the ads don't do. They don't slam the idea of creating a government-run insurance plan, a proposal the industry vehemently opposes. They don't go negative. And they don't threaten to undermine reform. But make no mistake, the ads are sending a strong don't-tread-on-us message. The ad launch isn't so much a shot-across the bow of reform as a Soviet-era military parade designed to showcase the industry's arsenal."
"Since April, approval of Obama's handling of health care has dropped from 57 percent to 49 percent, with disapproval rising from 29 percent to 44 percent. Obama still maintains a large advantage over congressional Republicans in terms of public trust on the issue, even as the GOP has closed the gap.
Newsweek, "Ted Kennedy Speaks Out on Health Care Reform"
Politico's Mike Allen, "Nancy Pelosi: Make millionaires pay for health care"
Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman, "Democrats' New Worry: Their Own Rich Voters"
New York Times' Kevin Sack and Robert Pear, "Governors Fear Medicaid Costs in Health Plan"
New York Times' Robert Pear and Adam Liptak, "Health Bill Might Direct Tax Money to Abortion"
Washington Post's Ceci Connolly, "With Health Reform, Waxman Takes On Another Tall Order"
Forty years later, the Apollo 11 crew says it's Mars that's more interesting than the Moon. "In one of their few joint public appearances, the crew of Apollo 11 spoke on the eve of the 40th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon, but didn't get soggy with nostalgia. They instead spoke about the future and the more distant past," writes the Associated Press' Seth Borenstein. …
"They got second man on the moon Buzz Aldrin's pitch for Mars. He said the best way to honor the Apollo astronauts 'is to follow in our footsteps; to boldly go again on a new mission of exploration.' ... Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, who circled the moon alone while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on it, said the moon was not interesting, but Mars is. 'Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favorite as a kid and it still is today,' Collins said. 'I'd like to see Mars become the focus, just as John F. Kennedy focused on the moon.'"
And according to a CBS News poll out this morning, 51 percent of Americans agree that the U.S. should send astronauts to Mars, up from 48 percent the last time the question was asked in January 2004.
Miami Herald, "As NASA marks 40th anniversary of moon landing, it looks toward Mars"
ANOTHER POLITICIAN SEX SCANDAL?: New York Daily News' Rush and Malloy wrote yesterday, "Another gubernatorial sex scandal may be looming. Even as South Carolina's Mark Sanford waits to see whether his wife, Jenny, forgives his romp in the pampas, a New York call girl could plunge one of America's most prominent governors into a fresh hell.
"In March, we told you about a high-end escort who claimed that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had gotten overly aggressive during some kinky role-play (a charge Spitzer's lawyer called 'outrageous and defamatory').
"Now the elegant blond courtesan, whom we'll continue to call 'Annie,' is talking about three 'dates' she allegedly had with another state's chief executive, who we'll call Gov. X."
Politico's Lisa Lerer and Kathryn McGarr, "C Street: where scandal meets spirituality"
ALSO TODAY: President Obama meets with Thomas Monson, the head of the Mormon Church, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who is Mormon.
Vice President Biden heads to Ukraine and Georgia.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich delivers remarks on national security at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.
ECONOMY
Associated Press' Tom Raum, "White House putting off release of budget update"
NPR's Linda Wertheimer and Debbie Elliott, "States' Financial Woes Dominate Governors Meeting"
McClatchy Newspapers' Tony Pugh, "On Friday, lowest-wage workers get a pay hike"
Associated Press' Jim Kuhnhenn, "Banks report using govt. assistance for loans"
FOREIGN POLICY
Associated Press' Robert Burns, "Clinton touts prospects for better ties with India"
Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, "Clinton, Indian Minister Clash Over Emissions Reduction Pact"
NY Times' Eric Schmitt, "Pentagon Seeks Prison Overhaul in Afghanistan"
SOTOMAYOR
Wall Street Journal's Jess Bravin, "'Empathy' Takes a Knock in Confirmation Hearings"
SARAH PALIN
Associated Press' Matthew Daly, "Palin: Alaska tour is thanks, not goodbye"
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN
Las Vegas Review-Journal's Molly Ball, "New poll reveals Ensign's status sinking"
CALIFORNIA BUDGET
Bloomberg News' Michael B. Marois, "Schwarzenegger, Lawmakers to Resume Budget Talks Amid Progress"
FUTURE RACES
2009 NJ Governor: Newark Star-Ledger's Josh Margolin and Claire Heininger, "With lead in polls, Chris Christie keeps his messages simple"
2009 VA Governor: Richmond Times-Dispatch's Olympia Meola, "Out-of-state groups pump $6 million into Va. gubernatorial race"
2010 CA Governor: San Diego Union-Tribune's John Marelius, "Gubernatorial candidate slams budget-vote rule as 'recipe for status quo'"
2010 NM Governor: CQ Politics, "D.A. Joins GOP Field for New Mexico Governor"
2010 CT Senate: The Hill's Kevin Bogardus, "After bashing K Street, Dodd mingles with lobbyists"