NYT: Democrats Ask, Can Health Care Bill Be Saved?

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/health/policy/06health.html

WASHINGTON — For a moment, President Obama’s pledge to keep fighting for major health care legislation got personal on Thursday night as he told supporters at a fund-raiser about a former campaign worker in St. Louis without health insurance who had died of breast cancer.

“She insisted she is going to be buried in an Obama T-shirt,” he said, drawing nervous laughter from the otherwise hushed crowd. “How can I say to her, ‘You know what, we’re giving up’? How can I say to her family, ‘This is too hard’? How can Democrats on the Hill say, ‘This is politically too risky’? How can Republicans on the Hill say, ‘We’re better off just blocking anything from happening?’ ”

Despite recent political setbacks, Mr. Obama vowed to win approval of the legislation, and his enthusiastic audience roared: “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!”

But the president’s remarks, at the fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee, seemed altogether detached from the legislative realities on Capitol Hill, where dejected Democrats have been casting about for a way to salvage the health care bill. The legislation was thrown into limbo by the Republicans’ upset victory in a special Senate election in Massachusetts on Jan. 19.

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