Obama: Politics Trumped Common Sense in Health Care Debate

President Obama kicked off a bipartisan health care summit today with hopes that Democrats and Republicans can bridge their divide to achieve a substantive discussion about how to move forward on overhaul legislation.

But he lamented that the urgent need for change had been overshadowed by politics, despite a year of work on the contentious issue.

"This became a very ideological battle -- a very partisan battle -- and politics, I think, ended up trumping common sense," Obama said in opening remarks at the Blair House, across the street from the White House.

The president and members of his cabinet are sitting down with Republican and Democratic lawmakers today in what they hope to be a constructive bipartisan summit on health care where both sides can share their ideas.

Obama is using the summit to talk to Americans once again about why he believes health care overhaul is critical and to push members of Congress to vote on the matter next week.

Republicans came to the table to try to paint the latest legislation as a bad bill but show that they are willing to offer ideas and not just be the party of 'No,' as the Democrats have depicted them.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., opened up with remarks for the Republican side and said that the Democrats' health care bill should be scrapped, the entire process should be restarted and more of their ideas should be incorporated.

"So our view, with all respect, is that this is a car that can't be recalled and fixed and that we ought to start over," Alexander said. "But we'd like to start over."

Alexander said that the Democrats cannot push it through the Senate via reconciliation, a plan that has been discussed to get the bill passed with 51 votes.

"My request is this: Before we go further today, that the Democratic congressional leaders and you, Mr. President, renounce this idea of going back to the Congress and jamming through on ... a partisan vote through a little-used process we call reconciliation," Alexander said. "You can say that this process has been used before, and that would be right. But it's never been used for anything like this.

Alexander said that if the Democrats don't commit today to not use reconciliation to pass health care legislation, "then the rest of what we do today ... will not be relevant."

Obama said there are overlaps between the Democratic and Republican proposals. "It's not perfect overlap," he said. "It's not 100 percent overlap, but there's some overlap."

But the president said he wanted to address the areas of disagreement and see if there were ways to "bridge those gaps."

"I don't know that those gaps can be bridged, and it may be that at the end of the day, we come out here and everybody says, 'Well, you know, we have some honest disagreements. People are sincere in wanting to help but they've got different ideas about how to do it and we can't bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans on this,'" he said.

The prospects for a tangible compromise emerging from this summit seem unlikely and skepticism is running high among the American people. A new USA Today-Gallup poll today shows that 77 percent of Americans don't believe there will be a deal today.

The White House said today that there can be results if the summit participants have a substantive debate about the key elements of health care overhaul.

"I think the result and the product that comes out today is based on the willingness of each of the participants to come and talk through these issues, to put aside this notion of Kabuki theater, put aside this notion of six-hour photo ops and instead come and let's discuss in earnest good ideas on health care," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today on Good Morning America. "I think that's what the American people want. ... Let's just sit down there and talk about good issues."

Gibbs said the president wants to hear from Republicans their ideas on cutting costs for middle class Americans, how to prevent health insurance companies from discriminating against patients based on their pre-existing conditions, and rein in health care costs to avoid crushing the federal budget.

"We hope that all the participants are focused on coming in there today, putting aside our talking points, sitting down and talking directly to each other, and finding the common ground that the American people so desperately want us to find," Gibbs said.

Even as he expressed hope that there is the possibility for compromise, Vice President Biden said there also is the possibility that the six-hour meeting "could be pure theater."

"This could end up not being good," Biden said in an interview with the News Journal in Wilmington, Del. "But I know of no other way than to just keep pushing, saying, 'Guys, OK, this is our idea. What's your idea?'"

Biden said Democrats are ready to work with Republicans today if there are good ideas on the table.

"Literally, if they come up with an idea that bends that [cost] curve, " he said of Republicans," we'll compromise."