Gibbs: No August Setbacks Here
To those who say that August was a lost month for President Obama, the White House, surprisingly, does not agree.
"Not at all," press secretary Robert Gibbs said today. In fact, he continued to argue, the administration is closer to getting health care reform passed than any other in history. "That was true the end of July. It was true throughout the month of August. It may be more true now in September," he said.
Despite the public reaction seen in town halls last month -- sometimes strongly and passionately against government action -- Gibbs said he has taken special notice of Republican members of Congress who "talked to their constituents and they understand we have to do something."
"I think that's a great recognition that this is a problem that has been on the radar screens of the American people for a long, long time, and that they demand something be done about it. And I can assure you the president aims to be the person that does something about it," he said.
Gibbs also gave a broad outline of what Obama hopes to accomplish in his speech to a joint session of Congress tomorrow, echoing a new refrain about "achieving stability and security through health care reform." He'll also speak "lay out clearly" what reform means, both for those who have coverage now and those without.
"I think he'll obviously clear up any confusion about what's not in health care reform," he also said, alluding to the misconceptions that were also a hallmark of the August recess. "And lastly I think he will answer many of the big questions about how we move forward on health care reform. What he considers reform to truly be."
That remains the million dollar question, especially whether he'll make a strong push for the public option. Gibbs was vague today, as ever.
"The president continues to believe that increasing choice and competition through additional options for people to get health insurance is tremendously important," he said. "What the public option will do is provide that additional choice and competition for people, primarily those in the private, individual insurance market or in the small group or small-business insurance market."
He also said that such a public plan "is not going to be some grandiosely subsidized, unlevel playing field" that would hurt private insurers.
The speech will run about 30-35 minutes, depending on applause. Gibbs also declined to call this a make-or-break moment.
"We're always late in the fourth quarter with very few seconds left on the clock and a long way away from scoring a touchdown, but that simply sets everything up for one of those glorious hail-Mary passes that -- and a touchdown."