Health Care Turmoil
By: Import User
Updated: August 25, 2009
President Obama is spending the evening at Camp David Saturday night and heading off to Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday.
But before leaving the White House, he recorded his weekly address, trying to set straight what he calls some "outrageous myths" in the health care fight.
"It also should be an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions," President Obama said.
The president insists his plan includes no death panels, no insurance for illegal immigrants, and no taxpayer-funded abortions.
And he says the so-called public option will not be a government takeover.
"It sounds scary to me, too! But here's the thing. It's not true," Obama said.
But that counter message has been slow to take hold, and skeptics continue to speak out at town hall meetings around the country.
Republicans say it's the president who's playing fast and loose with the facts.
"The president regularly tells Americans that 'if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.' But if you read the bill, that just isn't so," said Republican Congressman Tom Price of Georgia.
The latest polls show this fight has damaged the president's public approval, and it could threaten the Democratic Party’s hold on Congress in next year's elections.
"You know, 48 Democrats are sitting in districts that John McCain won,” said NBC political analyst Charlie Cook. "You could see another bloodbath - the kind of bloodbath the Republicans had in the last two elections and that Democrats had in 1980 and 1994."
Some believe the president can only win by cutting his losses.
"And I think he's got to sort of knock the heads together to the degree he can and convince them to come up with a plan which has most of the features he wants - they're not going to get them all," said Republican strategist Pat Buchanan.
It’s a lot to think about for a president trying to enjoy some time away from the office.
