Obama speaking out after MA election

In an interview today with George Stephanopolis, President Obama spoke out on his vision for the future of health care reform now that the Democrats no longer hold a super-majority in the senate. Although there are those in the media urging the House to rush the vote and approve the Senate’s bill before Scott Brown is seated, Obama stated that Brown should be included in the vote. The president also brought up one of his most often repeated talking points regarding health care reform – his claim that both democrats and republicans agree on 90% of what’s in the health care bill, and called on congress to quickly pass bi-partisan legislation that includes that agreed-upon majority of the bill.

A NYTimes article came out this afternoon claiming that Obama’s statement was a signal to congress to give up on trying to achieve universal health care for nearly all Americans, but I think that interpretation of the president’s interview is still open to debate. President Obama is sure to expand on his desire to sign health care reform legislation into law during his State of the Union address next Wednesday.