As President Obama prepares a final push for health care reform, the administration is hoping his political skills and transformative powers will close the enthusiasm gap between his policy and public opinion.
But polls showing Obama’s job approval ratings at an all-time low along with his personal approval ratings raise doubts about whether he has the political juice to close the deal.
“I think the president believes that the momentum has shifted a bit in his favor in a way that’s not showing up yet in the polls,” said Clark Ervin, a Republican who worked on Obama’s transition and is now a federal policy expert at the Aspen Institute.
Obama on Thursday will lead a televised summit on health care, possibly the administration’s last effort to draw bipartisan support for the flagging health care reform effort.
“He seems to sense a moment of opportunity,” Ervin said. “I don’t think he’s under the illusion he can do anything transformational on health care, but he can use this to get closer to the finish line than before.”
Obama earlier this week laid down a marker with a new blueprint for reform — a switch from his previous and widely criticized hands-off approach to health care policymaking.
But getting the revised health care bill past Republicans and moderate Democrats in Congress is a fraction of the battle for Obama, who long ago lost public support for the effort.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found just 43 percent approve of the way Obama is handling health care, to 53 percent who disapprove.
In a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, only 39 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Obama, while 46 percent said they approved of the job he is doing — his worst showing yet in office.
The numbers indicate that the personal powers the administration banked on to help sell earlier Obama initiatives like stimulus and bank bailout programs have ebbed significantly since the 2008 campaign.
“He is definitely invested in health care reform and it seems like he is going to fight it to the bitter end,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida. “The problem is that if you continue to push for what most people perceive as an unpopular policy, it’s going to hurt you politically.”
The White House is signaling it’s willing to go it alone on reform by refusing to rule out using a parliamentary maneuver to avoid Senate rules requiring 60 votes to get the bill passed, instead allowing the measure to advance with just 51 votes.
“The president simply believes we ought to have an up or down vote on health care,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
The new health care plan builds on an existing Senate version of health care reform, but includes new federal authority to regulate insurance premiums, state-run health exchanges for the uninsured, a phased-in excise tax on gold-pated health care plans and more.
