In an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric just hours before the Super Bowl; President Barack Obama invited the Republicans to bring their best ideas on Healthcare Reform to a televised bipartisan meeting February 25th. Democrats hope the meeting will restart the stalled healthcare reform bill and get it moving again. The bill has been on hold since the Democrats lost their crucial 60th Senate vote last month with the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts. The meeting which Obama wants televised on C-SPAN gives him another chance to sway public opinion on an issue the majority of the American people are not in favor of, but one that is critical to the president’s domestic agenda. Obama first suggested re-opening talks with Republicans during his State of the Union address last month, and repeated the call at a Democratic fundraiser Thursday, but the White House had kept details of his plan under wraps until Sunday.

The invitation is obviously political in nature. If not, President Obama would have made such an invitation at the beginning of the process. On the surface, it effectively takes the ball out of Obama’s court and places it in that of the Republicans. Below the surface, it is an opportunity for Obama to answer the criticism that he has not been transparent, he has not engaged the Republicans and he negotiated backroom deals in an effort to get the necessary votes to pass the bill. Bob Blendon, a health policy and political analyst at Harvard University said, “The president is trying to turn around the sour mood on this issue and mitigate the criticism that he’s ramming this bill down people’s throats.”

Republicans are distrusting of Obama’s intentions and say they are not going to compromise on a bill that polls show is opposed by a majority of Americans and will drive the nation further into debt. Republican Representative Tom Price said, “Republicans welcome honest discussion, but this event reeks of political gamesmanship. The only constructive discussions will start with a blank sheet of paper.”

House Republican leader John Boehner said, “The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access.” The White House has said the purpose of the meeting is not to start over with Healthcare Reform, but to pick up where it left off. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said, “The president doesn’t think we should start over.” One White House official said “This is not starting over. Don’t make any mistake about that. We are coming with our plan. They can bring their plan.”

Some believe such a meeting will lead to more political point-making than actual compromise and progress. Representative Dave Camp, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters, “I don’t think it’s possible to compromise on this bill. The structure of it is done in such a way that it is going to raise costs, raise taxes and empower government to get between people and their doctors.” The danger for opponents of the current Healthcare Reform Package is that a partisan gridlock could give Obama an excuse to move the bill through a budget process that requires only a simple majority of 51 votes in the 100-member Senate, bypassing Republican opposition.

Democrats are doing everything possible not to be at fault should Healthcare Reform fail to pass. What this strategy seems to miss is that the American people, by and large do not want the bill to pass. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said, “We have promoted the pursuit of a bipartisan approach to health reform from day one.” In other words, if the reform bill ends up in gridlock, it is not because of the Democrats unwillingness to reach across the aisle. The first responsibility of any elected official is not to reach across the aisle, but to represent the desires and best interests of the American people within the perimeters of the Constitution. More often than not, reaching across the aisle is very expensive compromise. On a more positive note, the Presidents invitation is the recognition that he must have at least some Republican support to get the bill passed since Scott Brown, who campaigned against what he called the Democratic Party’s government takeover of the health-care system broke the Democrats hold on 60 seats.

The meeting is coming at a time when Democrats are expressing their confusion about how the White House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, after two weeks of inconsistent statements and little hands-on involvement by Obama. At the Thursday night fundraiser, Obama seemed to acknowledge for the first time that Congress may decide to scrap health care altogether — an admission that took the edge off of his repeated and emphatic vows to finish the job. The White House said Obama’s remarks were misinterpreted and he intends to finish health reform. Obama said to Couric, “What we have to do is just make sure that it is a much more clear and transparent process. I’ve got to push Congress on that.”

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.”

The debate about the meeting is whether it will be a summit to accomplish something together or a show trial to push the two sides further apart. Many people believe Healthcare Reform is a dead issue and it best be left dead in the greater interest of the American people. The meeting as proposed by Obama, places the Republicans between a rock and a hard place. If the Republicans do not accept the invitation, Democrats know that the liberal media will condemn them for being irresponsible and obstructionist. If the Republicans accept the invitation, this will turn into yet another debate resulting in more name and blame.

All in all, it is just more campaigning with no real leadership. As voters, we must continue to shout “enough is enough.” Our conservative leadership must do the same. House Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Whip Eric Cantor posed a series of questions about the ground rules for the meeting writing. “Your answers to these critical questions will help determine whether this will be a truly open, bipartisan discussion or merely an intramural exercise before Democrats attempt to jam through a job-killing health care bill that the American people can’t afford and don’t support. Bipartisanship’ is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support.”