WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama sees both "unprecedented consensus" from outside Congress on his drive to remake the nation's health care system and obstructionism by some on Capitol Hill.
"The historic movement to bring real, meaningful health insurance reform to the American people gathered momentum this week as we approach the final days of this debate," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet video address.
The consensus "includes everyone from doctors and nurses to hospitals and drug manufacturers" - even Republican governors and former GOP lawmakers, Obama said.
It does not extend to congressional Republicans, however, as nearly all of them oppose the Democrats' health care proposals.
The president noted that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist, all Republicans, and former Health and Human Service chiefs Louis Sullivan and Tommy Thompson, who both served in Republican administrations, have all come out in favor of overhauling health care, even though they differ on some specifics.