Obama popularity drops amid health care clash, poor economy

The battle over how to bring down spiralling health costs - a debate that has been ongoing for decades - dominated a primetime evening press conference held by Obama on Wednesday.

Obama's message has not changed: He stressed the urgency of bringing down the costs of health care in the United States, which already has by far the costliest system in the industrialized world. He linked it the country's ailing economy and said reform was the only means of cutting a ballooning federal budget deficit.

"Even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort," Obama said.

Obama's repeated pleas have been viewed as a sign of his increasing desperation. Health care legislation is in peril in the US Congress, where it has died on so many previous occasions.

Obama's call for both the Senate and House of Representatives to pass their initial versions before a month-long August recess is unlikely to happen.

The partisan divide over how to reform health care sometimes appears as large as ever. Republican Senator Jim DeMint last week cheered that the legislation's collapse would mark Obama's "Waterloo."

Indeed Obama's own popularity has taken a significant hit in recent weeks, as health care has stalled and the ongoing US recession continues to push hundreds of thousands out of jobs.

Obama's approval rating in the month of July has been steadily under 60 per cent for the first time since he entered office, and the president's policies on many issues are even less popular.

Only 49 per cent approve of his handling of health care and just 43 per cent are happy with his management of the country's deficit, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll released this week.

The president's bully pulpit is also not what it once was. Obama risks overexposure just six months into his four-year term.

The prime-time press conference was Obama's fourth since January. His predecessor George W Bush held four during his entire eight years in office.

Public viewership has steadily declined. Nearly 50 million tuned in to his first press conference in February. That was already down to less than 30 million people in April.

The latest press conference also served as a kind of six-month report card for the Obama administration. Many in the public have grown restless as the United States remains mired in its worst recession since the Great Depression of 1930s.

The pace of job losses, which dropped significantly in May, jumped again in June. The jobless rate currently sits at 9.5 per cent, the highest in a quarter-century. The US central bank says that rate will likely hit 10 per cent before year's end.

Obama said his policies had helped stabilise the financial sector and pulled the economy "back from the brink." But he acknowledged jobs would continue to be shed for some time and urged the public to give his plans more time to work.

The administration has faced growing criticism over the centrepiece of its economic plans, a 787-billion-dollar stimulus package that was approved in February. Some economists are already pressing for more public spending, even as many in the public grow weary of the high figure spending.

And yet even with the economy in turmoil, it seems no issue has attracted more attention in recent weeks than health care, an issue that has confounded many previous administrations.

Obama still hopes this time will be different. Traditional lobbies that have opposed past efforts - like hospitals and pharmaceutical companies - have signalled they are willing to compromise. Most opposition Republicans also agree something has to be done.

But the devil, as always, is in the details.

Conservatives are united in opposition to the centrepiece of the Democratic Party's proposals - the creation of a government insurance plan to compete against private insurers, which they fear could be put out of business.

Democrats insist it is the only way to force private insurers to lower costs. But with the budget deficit already skyrocketing because of Obama's economic rescue plan, a significant number of conservative Democrats have grown weary of the potential cost.

Obama nevertheless expects an overhaul of the US health care system to be approved by the end of this year.

"If you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen," Obama said.