US President Barack Obama has warned Democrats and Republicans against staging ‘political theatre’ at a televised summit designed to rescue his stalled health reform drive.
‘I hope this isn't political theatre where we are just playing to the cameras and criticising each other,’ Mr Obama said, after striding into the meeting at the Blair House presidential guest house.
He also called on both sides to focus on areas of agreement as he opened the summit, despite a poisoned political debate over the issue.
‘We all know this is urgent and unfortunately over the course of the year .... this became a very ideological battle, it became a very partisan battle and politics I think ended up trumping practical common sense,’ Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama also invoked his own personal story, the death of his mother from cancer and childhood illnesses of his daughters Malia and Sasha, to highlight the plight of less fortunate Americans without good health care.
Almost nine months after Congress first took up his top domestic priority, Mr Obama is challenging opposition Republicans to drop obstruction tactics and back his new $950bn plan to cover 31m uninsured Americans.
The president faces a pivotal moment in his presidency as he makes one final effort to win over lingering Democrats and a sceptical, recession-battered American public.
Mr Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other leading Democrats are squaring off with top Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Arizona senator John McCain for a live debate around the same table.
Republicans have dismissed the so-called ‘summit’ as a sham, accusing the White House of having already decided to force a bill through the Senate using a process called reconciliation to bypass their delaying tactics.
