[Sigaba]

<<SNIP>>

"I think it's very important for us to have a methodical, open process over the next several weeks, and then let's go ahead and make a decision," [the president said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

"And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns."

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"The next step is what I announced at the State of the Union, which is to call on our Republican friends to present their ideas. What I'd like to do is have a meeting whereby I'm sitting with the Republicans, sitting with the Democrats, sitting with health care experts, and let's just go through these bills. ... And then I think that we've got to go ahead and move forward on a vote," [the president] said Thursday shortly after a White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders that produced no apparent progress on health care.

"I think we should be very deliberate, take our time. We're going to be moving a jobs package forward over the next several weeks; that's the thing that's most urgent right now in the minds of Americans all across the country."

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IMO, the sensibilities highlighted in green should have shaped the president's approach from day one. Had he genuinely wanted to understand dissenting views and to consider alternate proposals, I think the public outcry would not have been so widespread.

It is interesting how he relegates public participation in the health care debate just to elections. It sounds like he only reads letters from Americans that agree with his viewpoint.

I do not buy his conciliatory tone for a moment. I think he's preening and posturing to his base so he can look like 'the good guy.'

It is just a matter of time before he starts blowing on his one note trumpet about the problems he "inherited."