Can the President Write the Prescription for Health Care?

"We are at the point now to give it the full throttle to get it over the finish line. That is why the president is going to step into a different role and be more prescriptive."

So says Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff. Less blunt is senior adviser David Axelrod: "If you want to move the ball forward...being much more prescriptive is one of the things on the table."

This new approach gets especially interesting in the context of the address to a joint session of Congress that was announced today for September 9. Can the President simply say what he wants, especially with regard to the public option, and indicate that anything less will not be acceptable (as when Bill Clinton pulled out his veto pen in his 1993 address to a joint session)? Or will he have to work a more subtle line given the complexities of the forces he has to appeal to--budget conscious Blue Dog Democrats, liberal supporters of the public option, and perhaps the stray Republican or two? Presdient Obama has always risen to the occasion for big speeches, but this one may be the biggest and most challenging yet.

Here are some articles on the new "prescription" and the upcoming address from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.