In a press conference held this morning in Washington, President Obama reiterated his plea to critics of his healthcare reform measure to ‘move beyond politics of the moment’ and pass this bill, citing its ‘urgent’ and ‘indisputable’ need among working-class American families. This most recent request comes on the heels of new polling data suggesting that both the president and his healthcare plan are continuing to lose favor with the American public.

In a roundtable discussion held with pediatric healthcare providers of the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C. prior to the press conference, President Obama listened to a wide-range of concerns about the current state of the American healthcare system from physicians, physician’s assistants, and nurses at the nation’s leading children’s hospital. Whether there were any qualms among administrators over the nature and extent of the president’s healthcare reform measure is unclear as this meeting was held behind closed doors.

The roundtable discussion and the press conference after were the first steps in the White House’s calculated campaign-style media blitz in an effort to bolster American support for the president’s healthcare agenda. This includes a prime-time news conference this Wednesday at 8pm EST.

President Obama also used this morning press conference to address comments made by his critics, specifically South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint who remarked that healthcare reform may turn out to be the president’s Waterloo. Though not addressing the senator by name, President Obama remarked, “This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics/ This about a healthcare system that is breaking America’s families,” businesses, and economy.

Questions remain whether the White House is fighting a losing battle over healthcare reform or that the fairly inexperienced president, only five months into his presidency, is biting off more then he can chew. With the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation to the Supreme Court and the Cap-and-Trade bill yet to be addressed by the Senate, it is growing more likely every day that the healthcare reform measure will not be passed before Congress’s August 7^th recess.

Recent polling data suggests to the Obama administration that time is not on its side and the longer the healthcare reform measure remains in bureaucratic limbo, the more support it stands to lose. Support from American public, both for the president himself and his healthcare reform bill, have hit all-time lows. The president’s recent approval rating ranges from a high of 61% from Gallup to a new low of 50% from Rasmussen, with polls conducted between the 17^th and 19^th of July. The Washington Post/ABC News poll shows public approval for President Obama’s handling of healthcare at 49%, down from 53% in June and 57% in April. More pressing to the administration however is the rise in disapproval for the president’s plan, up from 29% in April to 44% now.

Tags: ABC News, Barack Obama, Children's National Medical Center, Congress, health care, healthcare reform, Senator Jim DeMint, Washington Post, Waterloo

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