Republicans Prepare Political Health Reform Attack On Defiant Obama

Republicans Prepare Political Health Reform Attack On Defiant Obama: "President Barack Obama told Republicans seeking a repeal of the health overhaul law to 'go for it' Thursday as Republicans vowed to keep up their attacks through the November elections and beyond.

The Wall Street Journal reports that as Obama's 'broader economic agenda ... is gaining legislative steam in Washington ... the people he says his policies are targeted to - the middle class - are the ones he appears to be losing.' At a stop in Iowa City, Obama held a town hall meeting and talked with people about the health care overhaul. ''Yes, we need health-care reform, but why couldn't we have taken it step by step?' asked Kitty Rehberg, a 71-year-old farmer from nearby Rowley, who held a colonial-era American flag as she protested near Mr. Obama's speech. She said the president's policies would cost her 'a lot from my pocket book' to help people who 'just want freebies.' That was never the intention, White House economists say. Unlike the New Deal and the Great Society, Mr. Obama's policies are not about building a safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable, they say, but about fortifying the positions of those with jobs and income' (Weisman, 3/26)."