Americans will see the first evidence of the public relations offensive on Tuesday, when Mr. Obama travels to Wheaton, Md., to conduct a nationally televised question-and-answer session with older citizens to trumpet one of the law’s most popular features: $250 rebate checks to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for prescription drugs.
The timing is no accident; the first batch of checks will be mailed on Thursday. But it is only an early hint of what is to come throughout the summer and fall, officials say, as other consumer-friendly provisions — a high-risk pool for hard-to-insure people, a Web site comparing coverage plans, tough new restrictions on insurers — take effect.
At each of these “milestone moments,” as the White House calls them, Mr. Obama will weigh in, dipping back into a contentious debate that consumed much of the first year of his presidency. With Republicans campaigning on a theme of “repeal and replace” and casting the law as big government — and some Democrats trying to avoid talking about it — the strategy poses some political risks.
“We’re under no illusion that people are completely sold on whether and how this will work,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser. “He is very bullish on this, and he also understands that there is a great deal of skepticism, and that only by implementing this, and implementing it well, will people fully appreciate it. Along the way, there will be points where he is going to pick up that big megaphone.”
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