Obama's health care summit: What to watch for

The Fix
Chris Cillizza
WashPost

With the bipartisan health care summit at Blair House blotting out the political sun today, we are dedicating the entire "Morning Fix" to the five things you should watch for at today's meeting. (Need a sixth thing to watch? How about the Fix and the Post's Ezra Klein previewing the big event? On video!)

Make sure to stay tuned to the Fix all day for some live-tweeting of the summit (via the " Hyperfix"), which will start at 10 a.m., as well as some instant analysis once it all wraps up around 4 p.m. Enjoy!

1. Flip the script: While the networks -- and the Fix -- will cover this event as though it's a boxing match between two heavyweight titans, the truth is that it's closer to a pro wrestling match. Remember this is a televised event for which both sides have been preparing for weeks; neither side wants -- to quote Radiohead -- any alarms or surprises. And so, the storylines are scripted -- President Obama and the assembled Democrats will paint themselves as the man/men with the plan while Republicans will portray themselves as standing against a piece of legislation that the American people don't want. But, like pro wrestling, just because the events are pre-scripted doesn't mean they are devoid of real drama. Anytime this many personalities with this many disparate political and policy interests get in one room with the cameras rolling, it's bound to produce some quotable and memorable moments. (To extend the wrestling metaphor, today's summit amounts to a battle royal match.) The question is whether these unscripted moments come more from Democrats or Republicans and whether they play positively (Ronald Reagan's "I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience" line) or negatively (the "Dean scream"). In an event this long (and this heavy on policy prescriptions) the media will almost certainly latch on to the few unscripted moments. Who wins those moments will play a large role in who wins coverage of the summit.

2. Appearances Matter: Whether they admit it or not, Republicans were stung a bit by President Obama's command performance at their retreat in Baltimore last month. Obama looked, well, presidential while many of the Republican questioners came off as malcontents trying to trip him up solely for the sake of seeing him fall. The fact that Republican leadership backed off their initial threats to boycott the summit shows that they grasp the point they must get across -- that they can be responsible stewards if the American people decide to hand back control of Congress to them later this year. With Democrats in charge of all levers of power in Washington, Republicans rarely get the sort of opportunity they have today to make their case and show their stuff to the American people (or at least the segment of the American people who have six spare hours during the work week to watch policy discussions on TV). Republicans would do well to adopt a sort of "happy warrior" mentality; stand firm in their opposition to the President's plan but avoid any sort of head-shaking, Joe Wilson moments that could cast them as the angry minority party. Ensuring that the viewing public also knows that Republicans have a plan on health care -- or at least the elements of a plan -- is critically important too. This is a major opportunity for Republicans to make their case. Can they deliver?

(The rest is here.)

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