Obama ruft Blogger bei Gesundheitsreform zu Hilfe

--- US-Präsident Barack Obama beschreitet ungewöhnliche Wege, um für seine umstrittene Reform des maroden Gesundheitswesens in den USA zu werben. So hat er sich nun -- offenbar erstmals -- in einer Telefonkonferenz direkt an Blogger gewandt und um Unterstützung gebeten:

President Obama, along with senior advisers David Axelrod and Nancy Ann DeParle, held a conference call with bloggers this afternoon to discuss healthcare reform and the need for grassroots and netroots pressure on Congress to keep the urgency of the issue alive. ... President Obama strongly reiterated his basic principles for a reform bill:

Cover all Americans
Drive down costs over the long term for both the private and public sector
Improve quality
Strengthen prevention and wellness
Enact real insurance reforms that end exclusions for preexisting conditions, etc.
Relief to small businesses
Create a robust public option

But the main message of the call was the urgency of getting this done sooner rather than later. In answer to John Amato's first question about the latest push for delays from Democrats and Republicans alike, President Obama answered that "we've been debating this for 50 years, that now's the time to make the tough decisions" with the options now on the table.