Obama: You know what sounds pretty good right now? Reconciliation

The inevitable partisan ending to today’s bipartisan kabuki. I know you’re bored with summit vids by now but the baldfaced lie told here makes it must-viewing. Quote: “I think most Americans think that a majority vote makes sense.” That’s simply flatly untrue and there are not one but two polls posted in the last 24 hours to prove it. Ed already flagged Gallup’s finding of a 39/52 split opposed to reconciliation; Fox News followed up a few hours ago with even worse numbers.

If President Obama is unable to reach a deal with Republicans at the summit, 59 percent think he should start from scratch later. Some 34 percent think he should go ahead and try to pass the current bill without Republican support…

If a compromise isn’t achieved at the summit, by a two-to-one margin Democrats think the president should still try to pass the bill without Republicans. Even so, 31 percent think the president should start over in this scenario.

For independents, it’s just the reverse, by more than two-to-one they support dropping the current bill and starting over. An overwhelming majority of Republicans say the current bill should be dropped if the health care summit fails to find bipartisan agreement.

No matter. If a bipartisan deal hasn’t been reached within six weeks, says Obama, it’s reconciliation or bust. The alternative is “Plan B,” but while Blue Dogs might warm to that, House progressives probably won’t. And so, as one Democratic aide said to Politico, “It’s probably the big bill or nothing.” I don’t think I’ve seen any polls yet that have tried to gauge how the Democrats will fare in November if they pass a bill with reconciliation versus if they just call the whole thing off now, but if you see one, shoot it along to us. I’m eager to know just how toxic this toxic process is becoming. Total seats needed to retake the House: 40. Current estimate of GOP pickups from Larry Sabato: 37. Full speed ahead. Click the image to watch.

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