Following opening statements the dust up began. President Obama laid out the format for the meeting citing objectives for the day. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) embarrassed those of us who live in Tennessee by misquoting the CBO numbers in his opening while taking a strictly partisan position.
Not to pick on Lamar alone, Nancy Pelosi rambled and Harry Reid, both Dems, leaned to the left. Of course, no one expected the group of stogey old timers to do anything different.
Following the opening statements, President Obama called Lamar Alexander on the numbers he quoted. Of course, not to be put down by the Pres, Lamar interrupted to misquote the numbers again. When Obama asked to see his facts, Lamar scrambled faster than a cat covering poop. Finally, Alexander stated that rather than produce the numbers publicly and create a dispute he would do so privately. All the while John McCain was peeking at Lamar’s stack of papers.
Obama showed leadership — something we haven’t seen in a while — by suggesting that the summit would continue for quite a few hours and that he expected Lamar to produce the CBO numbers he quoted during the course of the day and the summit — for all to see. 
Lamar was still scratching the litter in the box when the next speaker was called upon.
Each of the speakers took a turn giving his or her opinion in an opening statement. Surprisingly, it seemed that President Obama picked a point from each of the statements to hone in on. It was obvious that the Republicans had the back hairs up. We, as Americans who need health care, were looking for more. Of course, we are only into the first hour and a half.
The talk centered around health care costs and prevention.
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