Obama summit increases stakes in healthcare wrangle

President Obama had hoped Congress would sign off on health reform last summer, but the subject goes to the heart of the ideological differences between the two parties, and even between liberal and moderate Democrats.

Reading all the various polls available, you get the clear picture that Americans are usually happy with the healthcare they have but most would be unhappy if no reform was passed this year.

They don't much like the bill Congressional Democrats are pushing - it’s too luxurious and too complicated - but they like its component parts and they trust the president and his party more than Republicans to solve the problem.

Quite apart from the fact that he thinks it is the right thing to do, healthcare reform would assist Barack Obama shore up his presidency too.

Besides his efforts to re-vitalize the economy, reforming healthcare is the central plank of his domestic schedule and he badly needs something to show for the sizeable majorities he has had in the House and Senate for the past year.