The new healthcare strategy

Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying the components of a compromise health-care deal, and directly and publicly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO.

“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”

Obama is considering detailing his health care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess.

Top officials privately concede the past six weeks have taken their toll on Obama's popularity. But they also see the new diminished expectations as an opportunity to prove their critics wrong by signing a health care law, showing progress in Afghanistan, and using this month's anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers to push for a crackdown on Wall Street.

White House officials say Obama will be “more prescriptive” in shaping the final health care deal. Although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.

“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”

Encouraging...at least, rhetorically. But if the health insurance exchanges don't allow high-deductible consumer-driven health (CDH) plans with their Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), I'll be very disappointed.

(via Ben Smith)