By KAREN TUMULTY,Time
Obama would rather campaign than govern
If Barack Obama’s town hall Thursday had all the feel of one of his 2008 election rallies–there he was,standing in front of thousands of supporters in a flag-draped high school gym in a swing state–well,that was really the point. The President journeyed to Green Bay,Wis.,to lend his popularity to the cause of health-care reform,hoping to bring to bear all the campaign skills that got him to the White House in the first place. “As Congress moves forward on health-care legislation in the coming weeks,there are going to be different ideas and disagreements about how to achieve this goal. And I welcome all ideas. We’ve got to have a good debate,”he declared. “What I will not welcome,what I will not accept,is endless delay or a denial that reform needs to happen.”As Obama’s comments suggested,he is leaving it to the lawmakers,the lobbyists and the interest groups back in Washington to work out the gritty details of how to “fix what’s broken”and “build on what works.”His job,as he sees it,is to “make the case,”said White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass.