Can Obama save health reform?

What Obama's "pep talk" to Senate Democrats did for the prospects of the health-care bill

President Obama, on a rare Sunday visit to Capitol Hill, urged divided Democrats to pass a health-care reform bill. Obama told members of the Democratic caucus they have a "historic opportunity" to make affordable health insurance available to all Americans. But he didn't mention abortion or a government-run alternative to private insurance—two issues on which Democrats must find compromises to muster the 60 votes they need to prevent a Republican filibuster. Can a pep talk from the president help Democrats seal a deal? (Watch an AP report about Obama's visit to Capitol Hill)

Democrats left the meeting optimistic: President Obama didn't go to Capitol Hill to propose a magic solution, says Gail Russell Chaddock in The Christian Science Monitor, he went to inspire. And Democratic senators "hinted at a softening of hard lines" after Obama's pep talk. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is scheduling "tough votes" on crucial amendments—a "telling indicator" that he believes the tide has turned.

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