Speculation persists about health care in State of the Union
Reclaiming public support for the health overhaul will be one of President Barack Obama's challenges in tonight's State of the Union address.
Politico: A State Of The Union Challenge: Health Reform
President
Barack Obama will have two challenges when he talks about his signature
health care law Tuesday night: Get the public back on his side, and
don't spend too much time on it. It will be Obama's first State of the
Union address since he signed health care reform into law in March, and
the public is still deeply divided over his biggest legislative
accomplishment. Anything he says will be picked apart by groups on the
left and the right – not to mention the entire health care industry –
for clues about how strongly he'll stand behind the law (Nather, 1/25).
NPR: Obama Takes The Capitol Stage On Surer Footing
Last
year, Obama's State of the Union task was to shore up support for his
foundering health care initiative and reassure his increasingly
skeptical base that he was still the guy they voted for. ... In the past
year, he and Democrats muscled through the health care legislation, and
he made good on other speech promises, including the repeal of the
military's ban on openly gay American service members (Halloran, 1/25).
Kaiser Health News: Psst, Mr. President, A little Advice on Your SOTU Remarks
Kaiser
Health News reporter Jenny Gold asked nine health policy experts to
share their views on what points they would like President Obama to make
in his speech (Gold, 1/24).
Meanwhile, news outlets also provide insights into Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the GOP budgeteer who has been tapped to give the Republican response, and what his message will be.
The New York Times: Republicans' Budget Man Draws Fire
But
now Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican point man on
spending cuts and designated responder to the State of the Union
address, has emerged as the latest chew toy among Democrats. They spent
Monday beginning a campaign to portray him as the architect of fiscal
policies that they view as unwise and hope will prove unpopular among
voters, including plans to partially privatize Social Security and
Medicare (Steinhauer and Herszenhorn, 1/24).
The Wall Street Journal: Ryan Is Republican Point Man
In
elevating Mr. Ryan, Republican leaders are taking what Democrats
believe is a political risk. He has written an anti-deficit plan that
includes politically explosive ideas — replacing Medicare with vouchers
and allowing some workers to invest Social Security taxes in private
accounts — that go beyond what even many Republicans are prepared to
embrace. But conservatives counter that the 2010 election outcome showed
he is precisely the kind of political figure to put forth as the face
of the Republican Party (Hook, 1/25).
Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent news service. It is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care-policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.