Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

June 24, 2009

Daily Pulse on Health Care Politics

President Obama's news conference yesterday was part of an orchestrated attempt by the White House to draw public attention to the need for overhauling the country's health care system.

It appears most Americans agree. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows a majority think major reform is needed, though there is still "broad public anxiety about the potential impact of reform legislation and conflicting views about the types of fixes being proposed on Capitol Hill."

Meanwhile, Roll Call reports Senators conceded "that it appears increasingly unlikely that Congress will reach a bipartisan consensus on health care reform this year, with a rift growing over whether to include a government-run insurance option in the legislation."

"Senate Democrats, charging that Republicans are unwilling to compromise, are sending strong signals that they have no intention of settling for weak reforms just to achieve bipartisanship. Democratic leaders now appear to be considering a repeat of the final negotiations over President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, which curried favor with just three GOP Senators."

Later today, Obama will host a health care meeting with a bipartisan group of governors and will hold a televised town hall on the issue.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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