Obama Tailors Pitch to Middle Class

President Obama kept to his expected themes in his prime-time news conference tonight, emphasizing that his health care reform is not "about me" and tailoring part of his pitch to Americans already covered. “If you already have health insurance, the reform we’re proposing will provide you with more security and more stability,” Obama said. People who get sick, change jobs, or move will not have to fear losing coverage, he said.

He objected to the notion that the debate over reform could "break" him. “This isn’t about me," he said. "This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings." He noted that one point often overlooked in the debate is that rising premiums and health care costs cut into people's wages, and he promised to oppose any bill "primarily funded through taxing middle-class families."
(More President Obama stories.)