Is Health Care Fight Worth Winning for Obama? ABC News" Rick Klein reports: The fight is joined - and Howard Dean is in trouble now. It may not be terrible for President Obama's political prospects to have the left on the outside looking in on the health. But the crowd outside is growing - along with the political costs of pressing to pass something huge with a deeply divided base, and dwindling support outside of that base. (And by the way - Sen. Ben Nelson is not on board yet, and neither is Sen. Bernie Sanders. Can Christmas wait "til January?) The president's calculation: that the current health care bill (or, maybe, just about any health care bill) does enough to be called a success - something to point to and run on in 2010 and 2012. "Now, if you can tell me that those things are not worth it, then you and I have a very different opinion about what the task is here," President Obama told ABC's Charlie Gibson Wednesday. Worth reading carefully: "If I can say at the end of my first term that, you know what, we are poised to deliver on the promise of health care after the legislation has passed, I think that'll be important," the president told Gibson. "If," that is, it's worth it all. Add to this a growing sense that the politics of health care won't be everything the president hoped they'd be. It sure isn't right now. "Congressional Democrats and Obama are headed toward a "catastrophic success" politically if they pass health-care reform in its current legislative form," Matthew Dowd writes in a Washington Post op-ed. Democrats pushing so hard for success on health care could find themselves in a situation resembling President Bush's situation on Iraq. They could topple the statue and win the day, but lose politically over the coming months and years. George Will: "Republicans can win in 2009 by stopping the bill, or in 2010 by saying: Unpopular health-care legislation passed because of a 60-40 party-line decision to bring it to a Senate vote. Therefore each incumbent Democrat is responsible for everything in the law. It may not even take months or years: "The public is turning against an overhaul of the health-care system, complicating Democrats" effort to pass a sweeping bill in the Senate," Janet Adamy writes in The Wall Street Journal, of the new WSJ/NBC poll. According to the poll, 44% of Americans said it is better to pass no plan at all, compared with 41% of Americans who said it's better to pass the plan. In early October, 45% of respondents preferred passing a bill, while 39% preferred passing no bill. Uninsured people were among those who have grown less supportive of the plan. The president is below 50 in a major poll (he was at 50 in the ABC News/Washington Post poll out earlier this week): "In December's survey, for the first time, less than half of Americans approved of the job President Barack Obama was doing, marking a steeper first-year fall for this president than his recent predecessors," the Journal's Peter Wallsten writes. Also for the first time this year, the electorate was split when asked which party it wanted to see in charge after the 2010 elections. For months, a clear plurality favored Democratic control. Karl Rove wants a re-count on that report card: "Mr. Obama has not governed as the centrist, deficit-fighting, bipartisan consensus builder he promised to be. And his promise to embody a new kind of politics - free of finger-pointing, pettiness and spin - was a mirage. He has cheapened his office with needless attacks on his predecessor. The war within continues - with broadsides that could as easily be coming from the left or the right. Taking aim at a pillar of the promises: "The bill doesn't actually "cover" 30 million more Americans - instead it makes them criminals if they don't buy insurance from the same companies that got us into this mess," Jim Dean writes to his Democracy for America e-mail list, per Greg Sargent of The Plum Line blog. Howard Dean, in a Washington Post op-ed: "I know health reform when I see it, and there isn't much left in the Senate bill. I reluctantly conclude that, as it stands, this bill would do more harm than good to the future of America. Firing back: "I don't think any rational person would say killing a bill makes any sense at this point," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday's per ABC's Jake Tapper. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer: "Recently, a somewhat perplexing new line of argument has emerged about health insurance reform, with some folks suggesting the Senate bill is a "dream" for insurance companies. If that's the case, though, it must be news to them. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on ABC's "Top Line": "I agree with Howard on a lot of things, but I think this is too important to walk away from." Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. (!): "It's nonsense and it's irresponsible and coming from him as a physician, it's stunning." SEIU weighs in - with a vow to continue the fight for the public option (though not outright opposition to the Senate bill): "SEIU does not accept that this monumental effort - that this reform that is so necessary to the health and wellbeing of our economy, our families and our future - can be over without a fight," SEIU President Andy Stern writes. President Obama must remember his own words from the campaign. His call of "Yes We Can" was not just to us, not just to the millions of people who voted for him, but to himself. We all stood shoulder to shoulder with the President during his hard fought campaign. And, we will continue to stand with him but he must fight for the reform we all know is possible. And look for the AFL/CIO to scramble things further - the executive board met Wednesday on health care, and a statement could come Thursday. By the by - nobody has the votes just yet. "Until I can see more details, I'm not going to know whether I can support the bill," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., per The Wall Street Journal's Greg Hitt. "At this point I'm not on board," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., per ABC's Z. Byron Wolf. But that's a much different standard than supporting a GOP filibuster. Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill. (whatever this ultimately means): "There can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. The man behind all the deals - for better or for worse: "While President Barack Obama has kept his distance from the legislative maneuvering over health care, his chief of staff has been nudging the process at critical points, corralling powerful interests and coaxing members of Congress, said lobbyists, labor leaders, lawmakers and congressional staff," Bloomberg's Mike Dorning reports. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood: "All of these machinations and activities that have taken place all year really have been orchestrated by him." Not another broken deadline... "Away from the floor, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid (D-Nev.) continued wrangling with the Congressional Budget Office over a cost estimate, which Democrats had initially hoped to receive by Monday," Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown writes. Without the analysis, Reid has been unable to lock down votes for the bill. And Democrats on both ends of the political spectrum remained uncommitted, saying they had problems that needed to be addressed. Clock could start Saturday: "Under the most optimistic of scenarios, Democrats would need at least six days to overcome the procedural roadblocks Republicans are expected to raise. However, GOP Senators indicated Wednesday that they are prepared to employ more dilatory tactics in their quest to deny Democrats a win before Christmas," Roll Call's Emily Pierce and David M. Drucker report. It's another getaway day for President Obama, as he heads to Copenhagen Thursday night for the climate conference. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a day ahead of him, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., got business wrapped up in time to lead the congressional delegation. As for what greets them: "China has told participants in the U.N.-sponsored climate talks that it cannot envision reaching an immediate, operational accord out of the negotiations here, according to an official involved in the talks," Juliet Eilperin writes in The Washington Post. Chinese officials conveyed the message early Thursday, the official added. It remains unclear what China would be willing to embrace instead of a robust political agreement. Politico's Glenn Thrush: "It's not clear if remarks by Chinese officials, made during negotiating sessions last night, signal the end of efforts to reach a significant agreement or simply represent an 11th hour bargaining tactic less than a day before Obama was due to arrive in Copenhagen. But U.S. officials fear it's the former, with little time left to negotiate a real deal before COP 15′s conclusion Friday. Raising the stakes? "President Obama leaves for stalemated climate talks in Copenhagen today facing global expectations that he can salvage an agreement on greenhouse gases as well as heavy domestic pressure not to sign a deal that could kill American jobs," Jim Tankersley writes in the Los Angeles Times. Failure would undercut hopes for a complete and binding global climate treaty next year; imperil climate legislation in Congress, a top priority for the Democrats; and handicap Obama's efforts to reshape the world's view of the United States. Clinton's move: "U.S. Secretary of State of State Hillary Clinton Thursday proposed that major economies including the U.S. come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade for developing nations, in an eleventh-hour effort to break an impasse on climate change talks," per Dow Jones News Service. Arriving hours earlier in Copenhagen, Clinton said the plan - which entails significantly higher financial commitments than the U.S. has previously made to developing nations - would involve public and private money. Read this as the ability to move numbers: "The latest Associated Press-GfK poll shows the president's marks for handling the eight-year-old war have jumped by double digits - more than half now approve - since he capped a three-month strategy review by announcing a big troop increase," the AP's Liz Sidoti reports. But despite his prime-time TV speech explaining how he reached his decision, there was no change in the public's resistance to escalation. Just 42 percent favor sending more troops while 56 percent oppose it, essentially unchanged from November. Good thing he can move numbers: "The president's going to have to make his case" on Afghanistan, Speaker Pelosi told reporters Wednesday, per The Washington Post's Paul Kane. T-Paw, leading with health care (wonder why?): "Here we are in New Hampshire and now what we see is a monstrosity being jammed down our throats on almost a purely partisan basis and maybe entirely partisan basis," Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., told the Union Leader's John DiStaso. The House heads home: "The House on Wednesday narrowly approved a short-term, $290 billion increase in federal borrowing power, setting the stage for a major fight over national fiscal policy in 2010," per The New York Times" Carl Hulse. In what House members hope was their last significant vote of an eventful year, a $174 billion measure intended to create jobs was approved on a surprisingly close party-line vote of 217 to 212. The measure would redirect $75 billion from the Wall Street bailout fund to a variety of construction and employment programs, but no similar measure is expected to be considered in the Senate until next year. Bloomberg's Brian Faler: "While the debt and defense measures are likely to reach President Barack Obama's desk by Christmas, the jobs plan faces opposition in the Senate, where lawmakers are wary of its effect on the government's $1.4 trillion budget deficit." Vice President Joe Biden's day: "Today, Vice President Biden will travel to Georgia to announce more than $2 billion in Recovery Act grants and loans to bring broadband Internet services to communities that currently do not have it," ABC's Karen Travers reports. The vice president will be in Dawsonville, Ga., to announce an initial investment of $182 million for 18 broadband projects over 17 states. The Kicker: "So much for trying to be incognito." - Sarah Palin, in a statement to Politico, after TMZ ran photos of her in Hawaii with a McCain campaign sun visor with McCain's name blacked out. Congress is one issue. But he said, "I'll have other things to discuss." " - Dennis Malloy, spokesman for former Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, who's mulling a political comeback after seven years in prison. For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note's blog . . . all day every day: