At a private meeting today, top Democrats settled on a strategy for tomorrow’s summit: They will strive to project a strong sense that they’re in listening mode, even as they make it clear that under no circumstances will they scrap their plans and start again, sources say.More from TPM:
Top Dems also agreed to make a concerted effort to highlight Republican ideas that are already in Obama’s bill, in order to disarm GOP charges that Dems aren’t serious about compromise, the sources add.
Congressional Democrats have acknowledged privately one reason health care hasn't passed yet is that they lost control of the message sometime last year, and they say they aren't about to let that happen again now that they see the finish line.Exactly.
They say the angry town halls of August - when members in most cases didn't have a plan to defend, or couldn't get talking points together in the face of heated criticism nationwide - won't be repeated if they get the messaging straight.
Overall they blame themselves for not moving quickly. The House blames the Senate for dilly-dallying in the Finance Committee to try and win Republican votes. The Senate blames the White House and President Obama for not giving them more direction or a specific bill early in the process.
That's one reason the momentum has shifted to actually getting health care done now that Obama has put his own stamp on a plan.
