WaPo: Obama Plans Public Relations Push For Health Care Effort
The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration has planned a public relations blitz to turn around the image of the health care bill: “Planning inside the West Wing for the post-vote period has proceeded quietly, even as the president and his allies on Capitol Hill were fighting for the measure’s passage. Reshaping the legislation’s image will take place in three phases, White House aides said: the immediate aftermath; the seven months until the November midterm elections; and the several years that follow, during which many provisions in the measure will gradually take effect.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will meet at 11:30 a.m. ET with senior advisers.
Biden’s Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will make an announcement at 10:45 a.m. ET, on the impact of Recovery Act tax cuts this season and a new WhiteHouse.gov tool to help middle-class families take advantage of them. At 3:45 p.m. ET, he will host conference calls with governors and mayors from across the country, to discuss stimulus implementation. At 7 p.m. ET, he will host a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Naval Observatory.
McCain: ‘We’ll Challenge It Every Place We Can’
Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) did not give up in the fight against the health care bill passed by his 2008 opponent, President Obama: “For the first time in history, we will have a major reform enacted without a bipartisan support,” said McCain. “We’ll challenge it every place we can. … We’ll fight everywhere.”
Sebelius: Americans Will Be ‘Enthusiastic’ About Health Care Bill
Appearing on CBs’s The Early Show, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius predicted that Americans will be “enthusiastic” about the health care bill once they understand it. “I think what’s been going on for the better part of a year is a lot of attempts to confuse and scare Americans,” said Sebelius, who added that “once people understand what’s in the bill and the fact that a lot of what they’ve been hearing has never been contemplated, has never been in the bill, that they’ll be very enthusiastic about what Congress did last night.”
Hillary To AIPAC: Both Sides In Middle East — ‘Including Israel’ — Must Make ‘Difficult But Necessary Choices’
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will address the pro-Israel group AIPAC today, and is set to deliver a message that the peace process must go forward. “The status quo is unsustainable for all sides. It promises only violence and unrealized aspirations,” Clinton will say, according to pre-released excerpts. She will also add: “There is another path. A path that leads toward security and prosperity for all the people in the region. It will require all parties — including Israel — to make difficult but necessary choices.”
Senate GOP Skeptical Of Chances To Take Down Health Care Reform
The Hill reports that Senate Republicans are skeptical of their chances to block the Democratic reconciliation package for the health care bill. “I don’t know — 50-50,” said GOP Policy Chairman John Thune (R-SD). “We’ll use amendments, points of order, whatever works. We’re assuming we can have a fair and open, honest debate as far the parliamentarian is concerned. We don’t have any reason to believe that won’t be the case.”
Axelrod: Health Care Bill ‘Only Worked Well For The Republican Party If It Failed To Pass’
The New York Times reports that White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod is predicting political benefits form the health care bill. “This only worked well for the Republican Party if it failed to pass,” said Axelrod. “They wanted to run against a caricature of it rather than the real bill. Now let them tell a child with a pre-existing condition, ‘We don’t think you should be covered.'”
