Dialing Back

Obama's New Health-Care Timeline

"Best-case scenario" is late September.

The House’s Blue Dog Democrats may have reached a compromise, but Congress’ health-care breakthroughs may be too little, too late: President Obama finally admitted Wednesday that his August deadline for a health-care overhaul can't happen. "This bill, even in the best-case scenario, will not be signed—we won't even vote on it probably until the end of September or the middle of October," he admitted at a town-hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. "We're just trying to get all these different bills out of committee." Don't worry, the spin machine isn't broken, yet: Obama noted that the extra time would allow senators "to take this bill home with them during the August recess" and have "more than enough time to read it." Before the cheering crowd of North Carolinans, Obama emphasized "consumer protections," arguing that the current medical system "works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn't always work well for you." A comment about his late mother's battle with cancer drew a standing ovation.