Unbelievable. While the president is now taking pains to paint himself as a populist, embracing the "ideas" of the GOP, he's obviously insincere. We've seen this before, but the president is too immature (and biased) to triangulate ala Clinton. His latest salvo is the Summit Invitation to Republican leaders:

Now is the time to act on behalf of the millions of Americans and small businesses who are counting on meaningful health insurance reform. In the last year, there has been an extraordinary effort to craft effective legislation. There have been hundreds of hours of committee hearings and mark-ups in both the House of Representatives and Senate, with nearly all of those sessions televised on C-SPAN. The Senate spent over 160 hours on the Senate floor considering health insurance reform legislation and, for the first time in history, both the House of Representatives and Senate have approved comprehensive health reform legislation. This is the closest our Nation has been to resolving this issue in the nearly 100 years that it has been debated. The Blair House meeting is the next step in this process.

Remarkable. Obama is many things, but one thing he is NOT is a friend to small business. Sadly, he believes that words fool people more than actions fool people. According to the invitation, labor, rather than the consequence of labor, is the key to "reform." We're to accept that the amount of TIME WASTED on corrupt deals and political sausage-making is sufficient to "trust" him with our future. The passage of these bills is evidence, according to the White House, that the issue is "close to being resolved."

Please. It goes without saying that this is manipulative. Senator McConnell, flanked by Republican invitees, would do well to hold a press conference, parse the invitation, and explain to the American people that the sentiments of the White House are patently partisan. Many consider the Summit "a trap." Republicans should explain that they know this going in.

Greg Halvorson