Healthcare: Policy and Partisan Politics

Some 40 Democrats and Republicans joined the televised healthcare summit today, with President Obama asking not where they differed but where they agreed. In an exercise in political theater designed by the White House to build public support for the Democrats' massive overhaul, the President began the summit claiming that politics has trumped common sense. The Republicans pleaded their case: that restructuring 17% of the economy is too ambitious for a single 2400-page bill. Will a rare chance for voters to see elected officials tackle the details of substantive issues make any difference on Capitol Hill or in this year's elections?