The deep chasm between President Barack Obama’s aspirations for a radically revised U.S. health-care system and opposition Republicans’ concerns about his plan’s long-term effects on the economy could not have been more stark than in a 7 1/2-hour public debate Thursday.

Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee whom Obama defeated decisively, called attention during the ballyhooed summit to special-interest provisions of a Senate bill that Obama essentially has co-opted. Obama responded by chiding McCain that “we’re not campaigning any more. The election is over.”

McCain good-naturedly conceded that he’s “reminded of that every day.” But the exchange left open to further debate who truly is attempting to make political hay of a complicated issue on which polls suggest the Democrats are risking control of the U.S. House and Senate in November’s mid-term elections.
To Republicans, undoubtedly, the president came off as condescending and arrogant.

To Democrats, presumably, he solidified an image as the heroic advocate determined not to suffer fools gladly.

But what about independents, who have swung dramatically not just toward the middle ground and to the right of center in idealogy over the past year? Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts election to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat resulted largely from his opposition to the Democrats’ varied health-care bills. How the debate proceeds will dramatically impact the mid-term elections.