Healthcare reform no longer Obama's top priority

In last night's State of the Union address, President Barack Obama again championed the need for healthcare reform. However, as expected, the president bowed to political realities and shied away from healthcare as the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, according to reports by Politico and the New York Times.

In fact, the president didn't mention healthcare until more than 30 minutes into his speech. Obama invited both Republicans and Democrats with "a better approach" to "let me know," according to the Times.

Obama also directed Congress to "not walk away from reform," according to Politico. However, the president didn't propose any bold new strategy for achieving health reform or finding common ground with Republican opposition. Instead, Obama stuck to generalities such as how health reform will help relieve the burdens of the middle class, sidestepping any discussion of exactly what a reformed U.S. healthcare system should look like, as well as a timetable for passing legislation.

To learn more about the president's take on health reform:
- read this New York Times article
- here's the Politico article

Related Article:
Fate of health reform in question as State of the Union looms

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