What's really behind Obama's sudden plea for troubled health reforms today

His health care reform is in trouble and he knows it:

What's really behind Obama's sudden plea for troubled health reforms today | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Friday afternoons and evenings -- as we've mentioned here previously -- are usually a dumping ground for political news its originators do not want noticed much. Especially entering warm summer weekends.

The flip side of that adage is that there's rarely much competition for the news at those times. Tah-dah! Not by accident Friday nearly an hour late but what else is new, President Barack Obama (despite the shattering death of his beloved teleprompter earlier this week) staged an unscheduled media availability to insert himself into the news.

Not much competition, so he got lots of coverage. And since he walked out afterward without deigning to take any questions, there was no chance of anything else detracting from the message he wanted to insert: Healthcare now!

The president knows his keystone program is in deep trouble and losing momentum. That's why his organization is sending out all those e-mails and organizing local discussion groups to mobilize grassroots support and why he drags the subject into everything he talks about. Why he even dragged it into a speech Thursday night celebrating the NAACP's centennial. And he'll no doubt focus on the same subject in his weekly address tomorrow (Text here as always at 3 a.m. Pacific Saturday).

"Now is not the time to slow down," he pleads.