Cleaver: Obama could still possibly work with GOP on health bill

It’s still possible for President Obama to work with Republicans to achieve bipartisan healthcare reform, one liberal House lawmaker suggested Sunday.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), who earlier this week said he’s willing to “push the reset button” on healthcare legislation, urged the president to “make haste slowly” on reform, while staying “immovable” on introducing a plan to encourage competition with the private sector.

“I think that there is the possibility that the president can work with some Republicans,” Cleaver said Sunday on CNN. “And I think he works with the ones who are interested in trying to get something accomplished.”

Cleaver said that while Congress still needs to make progress on advancing reform, the process should be slow enough to try to ameliorate centrist Democrats and some Republicans’ concerns.

“I think we’ve got to move slow enough to bring them along,” he explained. “But I think we don’t move so slowly that the American public says, well, it’s over; we’ve lost another battle.”

“I think now is the time, but I think we make haste slowly,” Cleaver added.

Cleaver reserved praise for the president, though.

“He’s not doing anything wrong. In fact, he should be praised for being audacious enough to bring this contentious issue to the public,” Cleaver said. “And I think that he has done a yeoman’s job in trying to articulate what this health care bill will do.”