OBAMAVISION

Obama's presser starting here shortly. Let's see what happens. Watching Tweety, RayRay, and Dr. Nancy on MSNBC.

8:01 -- Obama talking up his first six months. Stimulus...but unemployment is going to be a problem still. Takes time, top-heavy economy. I got a stinker of an economy. But we can rebuild it!

8:04 -- We must reform health care, the consequences of inaction are...bad. What's in for you?

8:05 -- Keep your coverage, limit out of pocket costs, more portability. If you don't have insurance, we've got an exchange for shopping around, and we're going to re-allocate health care costs. I've cut deals with all kinds of medical groups to get this done. I've got the AARP on my side too. I've got this under control.

8:08 -- Not about me. I've got good health care, so does Congress. It's about you. We'll get this done.

8:10 -- Ben Feller, AP: Which plan in Congress do you want, and how will you pay for it?
Obama: Let me explain. Without reform, we're screwed. How to pay for it? OK. 2/3 of it, tax dollars already being spent, just by being more efficient. Remaining 1/3, number of ways to do it, limit deductions for the wealthiest Americans. Other ideas are out there, just not going to put it on the middle class. Followup, will it get done? Obama, that's my job, I'm President. Status quo is the worst health care plan out there right now. Health care costs have eaten wage increases.

8:18 -- Question 2: Why the rush, Mr. President? (sigh)
Obama: The American people are asking me to do this. Also, default position is inertia in Washington (good line). Have to set a deadline to get things done. We need to take advantage of the opportunity....but if it's not right, I won't sign it if the bill doesn't work. For example, ways to cut costs weren't in all the bills...now we're putting them in, panels of doctors helping us.

8:22 -- Question #3: CHUCK TOOOOOOOODD. You gonna cover everybody, or how many more people? (decent, non-stupid question.) Obama: I want to cover everybody, but everybody is single-payer, and I don't have a single payer plan. The estimates I am seeing are 97%-98%, even with a mandate. Might have to make hardship exemptions. We save money by insuring people who aren't insured.
Followup: You can't blame the GOP on this, you know. (sigh.) Obama: I'm not blaming them. It's not about politics. I like that some Republicans are working with us, and they ARE contributing ideas (even if they don't vote for it). As far as my team, they'll come around.

8:27 Jake Tapper, ABC on #4: What will you make the American people sacrifice? Obama: Paying for stuff that doesn't make them healthier. Look, we make stuff more efficient, we can get this taken care of. Look, we're wasting billions now. Let's make the system more efficient. Why not pay for the half-price pill that works just as well as the full-price one? We're going to have to ask Americans to be smarter health care consumers. Yeah, look, deficits suck. We're throwing around trillions. But here's the thing, we have to fix the problem now to fix the bigger problem later. It looks bad now. The reality is it would have been $2.2 trillion worse if I hadn't done anything. We inherited a disaster. We're not done fixing yet, and we're not going to add to the deficit.

8:35 Chip Reid, 5 CBS: What cuts will you make in MediCare? Will you take it out of politics? Obama: Yes, the GOP's MEDIPAC program created just that body to analyze health care, and then they ignored it. We're going to use it. We will not reduce benefits, we make them more efficient. Big Pharma gave us $80 billion, we're going to use it to help seniors.

8:38 Kristy Parsons: 6 Where's the transparency in the White House? Obama: On the health care execs in the White House, you were there taking pics. On C-SPAN, sure, let them do it. On TARP: Let me get back to you on that once I take a look at it. I will find out.

8:40 Julianna Goldman, Bloomberg: 7 Are you going to be a hardass on Wall Street or what? Obama: Look, these guys were ripping us off. As unpopular as it was, we had to save it from systemic risk. This is reality here. We're not on the cliff edge anymore. We're growing again. Banks are profitable again. But...we're not to the point where this won't happen again. We need regulatory reform. They are going to go back to doing what they were before, and now with moral hazard. But if shame isn't working, we'll reveal what CEOs are making, and yes, we've seen fees on risky deals as a way to deal with this.

8:46 Steve Koff, Cleveland Plain Dealer 8: Can you guarantee that people will not be denied, and will you take this public option? Obama: They will get what Congress gets: choices. The public option will get private insurers to reduce costs. Insurance companies are making record profits this year. We have to have competition. Can I guarantee that people will never be denied? Look, your insurance companies are making the decisions now, not doctors. We want doctors to make the decisions based on care, not fees. (pitches his trip to Cleveland tomorrow to the Mayo Clinic, smart)

8:51 THE REAL STEVE KOFF 9: Why are you going to Cleveland Clinic if not for an endorsement tomorrow (who the hell was the last guy?) Obama: Naughty not Steve Koff guy. Anyway, because it works over there. I want people to see this in action.

8:52 Lynn Sweet: Skip Gates! 10 (Thanks Lynn for staying on subject...eyeroll) Obama: I know Skip Gates. Well, if I tried to break into THIS house, I'd get shot. (heh). My understanding is he showed his ID and got arrested anyway. I wasn't there, so any of us would be angry, 2, the cops were stupid, and 3, there's a history of racial profiling, I worked on a bill about that in Illinois for blacks and Hispanics. Race remains a factor. Progress has been made, I'm proof of that...and yet. Long way to go. Peace.

...and now everyone is saying the Skip Gates case is the news, not the 50 minutes on health care "3 card monte". Ugh.