WASHINGTON — An intense argument raged ahead of today’s health care summit: Will President Barack Obama and members of Congress sit around a U-shaped table or a round one? Seat assignments are no small matter. The event is scheduled to be televised live for nearly six hours, and its outcome could be shaped by whoever gains command of the room — or at least appears to from the vantage point of the four television cameras placed in carefully negotiated spots.
To that end, White House officials have been tussling with Republicans, and the television networks, over the arrangement of the room at Blair House, across the street from the White House.
The initial plan called for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to sit at the head of a U-shaped table, with some lawmakers seated in front of them like an audience. But Republicans balked, and the idea was scrapped. Tuesday, a White House official said the participants will be seated at tables in a “hollow square setup” — an arrangement Republicans approved of, they said, because it would put them on even footing with the president.
The logistics were of such importance that Phil Schiliro, the head of White House legislative affairs, made at least two trips to Capitol Hill to brief Republicans and field complaints, a White House official said.
“It’s like the Vietnam peace talks,” said longtime reporter Ann Compton of ABC News, whose network was part of the negotiations over the number and location of cameras. “They spent more time arguing about the shape of the table than anything else.”
Micromanaging political choreography isn’t new. Every presidential campaign debate brings with it hours of talks about the height of the lecterns and the type of buzzer used to signal when a candidate runs out of time.
But the degree of interest in the details of today’s summit underscored the high stakes of the health care effort.
