Insofar as today's health summit held surprises, they came in the president's closing discussion. In a swift display of comity, Obama turned to Senator Mitch McConnell for the second question. "I'm among those," McConnell said, "interested in seeing us address entitlement reform -- and admittedly, Medicare and Medicaid would be a part of that -- but also Social Security. And particularly concerned about having a mechanism in place that guarantees you get a result. And I wonder where you see yourself and the administration now, for example, in supporting something like the Conrad-Gregg proposal, which would set in place a mechanism that could actually guarantee that we get a result." McConnell's question, of course, was phrased in the delicate dialect of the Senate. An observer checking tone rather than words would consider it a courteous exchange. But it wasn't. Obama was looking for a show of bipartisan support for health reform and McConnell asked him to commit to Social Security cuts. Obama didn't blink. "Well," he said, "I appreciate the question, Mitch. As you know, we had a fiscal responsibility summit similar to the gathering that we've had here -- although I have to say the attendance here is even greater -- and what I said in that forum was that I was absolutely committed to making sure that we got entitlement reform done." "The mechanism by which we do it I think is going to have to be determined by you, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner and the members of Congress. We've got to make certain that the various committees are comfortable with how we move forward." In other words: Ask Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and a dozen Democratic committee and subcommittee chairs about entitlement cuts. See what they say. Another interesting exchange came between Obama and Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee. "Max Baucus and I have a pretty good record of working out bipartisan things," said Grassley. "I think only two bills in eight years that haven't been bipartisan." (One of them, however, was the S-CHIP bill, and another was Medicare payment reform, so their record on health care is more contentious). Grassley then moved onto a more relevant sore spot: The public insurance option. "The only thing," he pleaded, "that I would throw out for your consideration -- and please don't respond to this now, because I'm asking you just to think about it -- there's a lot of us that feel that the public option that the government is an unfair competitor and that we're going to get an awful lot of crowd out, and we have to keep what we have now strong, and make it stronger." The question was no surprise: In recent Finance hearings, Grassley has clearly signaled his anxiety on this issue. What was a surprise was that Obama rejected Grassley's plea to think it over and instead replied on the spot with a strong articulation of the case for a public plan. "The thinking on the public option has been that it gives consumers more choices, and it helps give -- keep the private sector honest, because there's some competition out there. That's been the thinking." "I recognize, though, the fear that if a public option is run through Washington, and there are incentives to try to tamp down costs and -- or at least what shows up on the books, and you've got the ability in Washington, apparently, to print money -- that private insurance plans might end up feeling overwhelmed. So I recognize that there's that concern. I think it's a serious one and a real one. And we'll make sure that it gets addressed." Those were the moments of contention. But the majority of the discussion was rather more affirmative. Obama was fluent and prepared on the issues. Major stakeholders were humble and complimentary ("Karen Ignani, executive director of America's Health Insurance Plans, received a round of applause for saying, "we recognize we have to earn our seat at the table."). Sir Ted Kennedy was introduced to a thunderous ovation, and he gave a rousing, crisp, extemporaneous speech. It was an auspicious beginning for health reform. But as Jay Rockefeller reminded the participants, it is only the beginning. The transcript follows the jump.
