Obama calls meeting with Republicans to iron out HCR compromise

UPDATE: This can't be good.

Racheting up efforts to call the GOP’s bluff on bipartisanship, Obama made a surprise announcement moments ago that he’ll be holding a summit of sorts with leading Republicans at the White House to discuss their ideas on health care reform — and possibly to move forward on legislation with them.

At this second meeting, Obama said, the White House, Dems, and Republicans would determine whether there was a bipartisan way forward on specific legislation. He said he wanted to “look at the Republican ideas that are out there” on lowering costs and insuring the 30 million uninsured.

“If we can go step by step through a series of these issues,” Obama said, then “procedurally there’s no reason why we can’t do it a lot faster than we did last year.”

The White House will deny it, but it sure sounds like they're starting over. Then at the same time, we hear this:

[T]he New York Times notes he "did not rule out scaling back the scope of the legislation in hopes of drawing more support for a health care plan."

The Washington Post notes Obama "sketched out an alternative approach to passing health-care legislation that would enlist Republicans and potentially extend debate into the spring, a strategy seemingly in conflict with the fast-track talks among Democrats on Capitol Hill."

It's hard to understand any method to the madness. Our more cynical readers think this is all intentional on the part of the White House. But I don't see the benefit in raising liberal hopes one day, then smashing them the next, over and over again. The same thing happened a week ago on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. The President included it in the State of the Union, we had a great hearing before the Senate Armed Services committee, and Obama even mentioned it to the DNC winter meeting yesterday. But at the same time, our sources tell us that DADT repeal is in serious trouble as the White House isn't doing anything to push for a vote this year. Raise our hopes then do nothing to follow through, and in fact, help squash the follow through. It's as if they think we'll hear the good news and ignore the bad the very next day. What possible benefit can there be to this ongoing mixed messaging? It's not helping us get any closer to a Democratic victory in the fall.