WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, two days after signaling retreat on a massive health care overhaul, discounted the small-bore approach Friday and pledged to press for ambitious changes despite running into “a bit of a buzz saw” of opposition.
Even as the president sought to bring the public and nervous Democrats back on board, a leading member of his party suggested Congress slow it down on health care, a sign of eroding political will in the wake of the Republican election upset in Massachusetts.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who ushered the overhaul legislation through the Senate’s health committee last year after the death of his friend, Sen. Edward Kennedy, said Obama and lawmakers could “maybe take a breather for a month, six weeks.”
“Maybe we do need to take this time. Look, it didn’t work, this process,” Dodd said, adding that Obama’s leadership was needed to get things back on track.
The president didn’t offer a specific prescription for moving forward Friday, but he did deliver a full-throated defense of his signature domestic issue.
“There are things that have to get done. This is our best chance to do it. We can’t keep on putting this off,” Obama said Friday. The Associated Press
