Post Partisan

Obama Invites GOP to TV Summit

Will debate health-care ideas.

President Obama has invited Republicans to bring their best ideas for fixing the country’s health-care system to a half-day televised summit on February 25. The move, announced before the Super Bowl in an interview with Katie Couric, aims to restart the health-care reform process and indicates a recognition that Obama knows he needs some GOP support. But White House officials were quick to say that the president “is not starting over.” Obama will present a merged version of the House and Senate bills; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said congressional Democrats would be working between now and February 25 to find a compromise between the chambers. Obama is likely looking to repeat the success he had engaging the House GOP in a televised 90-minute discussion a few weeks ago, but Republicans still widely see their united opposition to the president’s agenda as their best hope to win big in the midterm elections.